Quenda
| Southern brown bandicoot | |
|---|---|
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| Foraging adult | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Infraclass: | Marsupialia |
| Order: | Peramelemorphia |
| Family: | Peramelidae |
| Genus: | Isoodon |
| Species: | I. obesulus |
| Binomial name | |
|
Isoodon obesulus (Shaw, 1797) |
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| Subspecies | |
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| Southern brown bandicoot range | |
The southern brown bandicoot (Isoodon obesulus) is a short-nosed bandicoot, a type of marsupial, found mostly in southern Australia. It is also known as the quenda in South Western Australia (from the Noongar word kwernt).
While some authorities list as many as five subspecies (I. o. fusciventer, I. o. obesulus, I. o. peninsulae, I. o. affinus, I. o. nauticus), the most recent edition of "Mammal Species of the World" only lists I. o. nauticus as a valid subspecies, aside from the nominate; the others are given synonym status.
Southern brown bandicoots have a stocky body with a short snout and short, rounded ears. They show sexual dimorphism, with females being smaller than males. On average, males measure 50 cm (20 in) in total length, and weigh up to 1.2 kg (2.6 lb), while females measure 40 cm (16 in) and weigh no more than 1 kg (2.2 lb). They have coarse, bristly hair that is grizzled and coloured a dark greyish to yellowish brown, with the undersides a creamy-white or yellowish grey. The tail is relatively short, measuring about 13 cm (5.1 in) in length, and is brown above and white below.
There are five toes on each foot, although, as in many other marsupials, the second and third toes of the hind foot are fused along almost their entire length. The toes end in sturdy claws, except for the first digits of the fore feet and the fifth digits of the hind feet, which are tiny are vestigial. The pouch in females opens to the rear, and contains eight teats arranged in a partial circle.
Once common throughout many parts of coastal Australia, today southern brown bandicoots have a more limited distribution. An isolated population exists at the north-eastern part of the Cape York Peninsula in Queensland, but all other surviving animals are found in the southern half of the country. In New South Wales they are considered rare, and are primarily restricted to the extreme south-east of the state and to two national parks north of Sydney. In Victoria, they are more common, being found along the whole length of the coast and at up to 1,000 m (3,300 ft) in the Grampian and Dandenong mountains.
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Wikipedia