Bronze swell
| Bronze swell | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Dasyurus spartacus | ||||||||||||
| Van Dyck , 1988 |
The bronze quoll ( Dasyurus spartacus , Syn .: Satanellus spartacus ( Van Dyck , 1987)) is a species of marsupial from the genus of the pouch marten that is endemic to New Guinea . The specific epithet spartacus , after the Roman slave and gladiator Spartacus , refers to the savagery of the predator . Little is known about the shy species.
description
The bronze quoll is a medium-sized, but stocky bag marten. It differs from the other Dasyurus species in its extremely narrow snout , shortened big toe (hallux) and small ears. The bronze quoll is dark golden brown in color, has dark golden bronze feet and a dark brown tail, which is short haired on the basal third and becomes bushier towards the tip. From the forehead to the back it has small, randomly distributed, white spots with a maximum diameter of 6.5 mm. The spots are missing on the underside, on the tail and on the front and rear feet. When fully grown, it reaches a head-trunk length of 305 to 380 mm, and its tail, which is about 80% of the head-trunk length, is 250 mm and more.
The external differences between the bronze quoll and the other Dasyurus species include the body size and the length of the big toe. While the eastern quoll ( Dasyurus viverrinus ) of the hallux is missing, it is at Dasyurus spartacus stunted and 58% smaller than in the western quoll ( Dasyurus geoffroii ).
distribution
The distribution area of the bronze quoll is the Trans- Fly ecoregion in the south of New Guinea . The area includes the Wasur Rawa Biru National Park in the Indonesian province of Papua and the Tonda Wildlife Management Area ( Papua New Guinea ). There have been no sightings from the areas north of the Fly River, although suitable habitat is available in places. The type locality is Morehead , other collection copies come from Mari and Mibini .
Way of life and habitat
The species is a nocturnal predator of tree-lined savannahs . It is believed to be found at heights of up to 200 m, but only sightings up to 60 m are known. During the rainy season , a large part of the lower lying areas is flooded and the habitat of the bronze well and its prey is reduced to smaller "islands". Specimens were caught ransacking chicken coops and there is a report from local people who found a female with cubs in a newly dug out, empty outhouse pit. Otherwise little is known about the species.
Danger
According to local reports, the species is said to be common in parts of the Trans-Fly ecoregion , it is only known from 12 museum specimens. Four specimens were collected by PA Woolley in 1991. Seven weeks of re-enactment with 100 to 150 traps per night in the Trans-Fly Region in 2006 yielded only 12 animals. Eight of these were trapped and four were caught by local hunters.
Due to the limited distribution over about 26,600 km² and although little is known about the bronze quoll, it seems certain that there are fewer than 10,000 sexually mature specimens. Based on conclusions about Dasyurus species in Australia, a decrease in the population size seems plausible. However, there is not enough information to classify the species as endangered, which is why it is listed on the IUCN (Near Threatened, NT) early warning list .
Taxonomy
Until 1979, the pouch marten ( Dasyurus albopunctatus ) was the only pouch marten in Papua New Guinea . This year, the results of an inventory of mammals from 1972 to 1973 were published in the Trans-Fly , in which five bag marten, at that time still assigned to the black-tailed marten ( Dasyurus geoffroii ), were collected. For the first time examined and recognized as a separate species, it was not until 1988 by the zoologist Stephen Van Dyck , who worked at the Queensland Museum . He had five specimens available to describe this species: two adult males, one adult female and one male and one female juvenile. Genetically, Dasyurus spartacus and Dasyurus albopunctatus appear to be closest related to Dasyurus geoffroii . The relationship is not intuitive, but plate tectonics and rising and falling sea levels could help to explain this relationship.
Web links
- Dasyurus spartacus inthe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2014.3. Posted by: T. Leary et al. , 2008. Retrieved December 3, 2014.
literature
- Colin Groves In: DE Wilson, DM Reeder (Ed.): Mammal Species of the World. 3. Edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005, ISBN 0-8018-8221-4 .
- Karl Shuker : The Lost Ark: New and Rediscovered Animals of the 20th Century. HarperCollins Publishers, 1993, ISBN 0-00-219943-2 .
- TF Flannery: Mammals of New Guinea. Reed Books, Chatswood, New South Wales 1995, ISBN 0-7301-0411-7 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Murray Wrobel: Elsevier's Dictionary of Mammals. Elsevier Science, 2006, ISBN 0-444-51877-0 , p. 138.
- ↑ Ronald Strahan, Pamela Conder: Dictionary of Australian and New Guinean Mammals. Csiro Publishing, 2007, ISBN 978-0-643-10006-0 .
- ↑ a b c d e Dasyurus spartacus in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2014.3. Posted by: T. Leary et al. , 2008. Retrieved December 3, 2014.
- ↑ a b c d e Stephen van Dyck: The Bronze Quoll, Dasyurus spartacus (Marsupialia: Dasyuridae), a new species from the savannahs of Papua New Guinea. In: Australian Mammalogy. 11, 1987, pp. 145-156.
- ↑ Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Marsupials of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005, ISBN 978-0-801-88222-7 , p. 112.
- ^ Karl Shuker: The Lost Ark: New and Rediscovered Animals of the 20th Century. HarperCollins Publishers, 1993, ISBN 0-00-219943-2 , p. 91.
- ↑ 246 Dasyurus spartacusi ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . In: Don E. Wilson , DeeAnn M. Reeder (Eds.): Mammal Species of the World. A taxonomic and geographic Reference. 2 volumes. 3. Edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD 2005, ISBN 0-8018-8221-4 .
- ↑ Karen Firestone: Population genetics of New Guinean quolls. University of New South Wales. Version in the Internet Archive, online ( memento of September 18, 2006 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on August 6, 2013.
