Dunnart
Genus of mammals (Sminthopsis; marsupials)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A dunnart (from Noongar donat[1]) is a narrow-footed marsupial the size of a European mouse, of the genus Sminthopsis. Dunnarts have a largely insectivorous diet.
| Dunnart | |
|---|---|
| |
| White-footed dunnart (Sminthopsis leucopus) | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Infraclass: | Marsupialia |
| Order: | Dasyuromorphia |
| Family: | Dasyuridae |
| Subfamily: | Sminthopsinae |
| Tribe: | Sminthopsini |
| Genus: | Sminthopsis Thomas, 1887 |
| Type species | |
| Phascogale crassicaudata Gould, 1844 | |
| Species | |
|
23, see text | |
Taxonomy
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The genus name Sminthopsis was published by Oldfield Thomas in 1887, the author noting that the name Podabrus that had previously been used to describe the species was preoccupied as a genus of beetles.[2] The type species is Phascogale crassicaudata, published by John Gould in 1844.
There are 19 species,[note 1] all of them in Australia or New Guinea:[3]
- Genus Sminthopsis
- S. crassicaudata species-group
- S. macroura species-group
- S. granulipes species-group
- S. griseoventer species-group
- S. murina species-group
- S. psammophila species-group
Additionally, two species are recognized by the American Society of Mammalogists:
The American Society of Mammalogists also lists S. griseoventer as a synonym of S. fuliginosa,[6] and moved S. longicaudata to the genus Antechinomys.[7]
Description
A male dunnart's Y chromosome is the smallest known mammalian Y chromosome.[8]
Notes
- The list is based on the Third edition of Wilson & Reeder's Mammal Species of the World (2005) except where both the Mammal Diversity Database and IUCN agree on the change.