Stripe-faced dunnart
| Stripe-faced dunnart | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Infraclass: | Marsupialia |
| Order: | Dasyuromorphia |
| Family: | Dasyuridae |
| Genus: | Sminthopsis |
| Species: | S. macroura |
| Binomial name | |
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Sminthopsis macroura (Gould, 1845) |
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| Stripe-faced dunnart range | |
The striped-faced dunnart (Sminthopsis macroura) is a small, Australian, nocturnal, "marsupial mouse," part of Dasyuridae family. The species distribution occurs throughout much of inland central and northern Australia, occupying a range of arid and semi-arid habitats.
While the species has a broad distribution range, it has been declining across much of Australia, including the western region of New South Wales (NSW). This decline is due to a several threatening process, primarily habitat degradation.
This has led to the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage listing the species as 'vulnerable'. The species is not listed on the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act) or the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species list the species as of 'least concern'.
Recent genetic studies have discovered that this dunnart species is in fact three distinct species that over several million years diverged from each other. However, because they are difficult to distinguish, they tend to be treated as a single species.
The three subspecies are as follows:
The strip-faced dunnart has an average length of 155–198 mm from the tip of the snout to the tip of the tail, snout to anus distance of 75–98 mm, a tail measuring 80–100 mm and an ear length of 17–18 mm. Its weight varies between 15-25 grams. The species is pale grey-brown above with an obvious dark strip on the forehead from the top of muzzle to between ears, the ears are slightly darker than other dunnart species. Underparts and feet are white.The tail is often swollen, wide at the base and narrowing to the tail, with hairs extending beyond tail tip.
The species can be distinguished from other similar species like the fat-tailed dunnart (S. crassicaudara) by the dark stripe on the forehead, which is only partly similar to the Julia Creek dunnart (S. douglasi). Although the Julia Creek dunnart is 2 to 3 times heavier than the striped-faced dunnart and is longer with a head and body length of 100 to135mm.
The maximum longevity of the species in captivity is 4.9 years.
The stripe-faced dunnart distribution covers a broad area of central and northern Australia, from the Pilbara to central Northern Territory, western and central Queensland, south to north-east South Australia to north and west New South Wales. The species also inhabits a range of habitats, mainly within arid regions; occurring in low shrublands containing saltbush (Atriplex spp.) and bluebush (Maireana spp.), in spinifex grasslands on sandy soils, among sparse Acacia shrublands, in tussock grasslands on clay, sandy or stony soils, on open salt lakes, and on low, shrubby, rocky ridges. Although, the highest abundances of the species occurs mainly in tussock grasslands and shrublands where overgrazing by domestic and feral stock is sparse or absent and often where there are drainage lines in natural vegetation which tend to improve the availability of food and shelter. The species shelters under rocks and logs, in cracks in the soil and in tussock grass.
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Wikipedia