Fat-tailed pouch mice
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| Tate , 1947 |
The fat-tailed pouch mice ( Pseudantechinus ) are a genus of marsupial mammals from the predator family (Dasyuridae). The genus includes six species , all of which live in northwestern Australia .
description
They are mice-like marsupials, whose fur is gray-brown in color. The snout is elongated , as in many pouch mice . The name-giving feature is the tail, which is strongly widened at the base of the tail and used as a fat depot. These animals reach a head trunk length of 95 to 105 millimeters and a weight of 20 to 45 grams.
Way of life
The habitat of these animals are predominantly dry, mountainous regions. They are nocturnal and retreat into crevices during the day, sometimes also into broken termite mounds. Their diet consists mainly of insects.
After a gestation period of around 45 to 55 days, the female gives birth to five to six young animals. These spend the first weeks of life in their mother's pouch, are weaned at 14 to 16 weeks and sexually mature towards the end of the first year of life. Unlike other bag mice, there is no mass death of the males after mating; both sexes can live three to four years old.
Systematics
In this genus, six species are distinguished:
- The Harney fat-tailed pouch mouse ( Pseudantechinus bilarni ) lives in the Arnhem region in the northern Northern Territory . In the past, the species was regarded as a relative of the speckled pouch mouse and incorporated into the genus Parantechinus .
- The MacDonnell fat-tailed pouch mouse ( Pseudantechinus macdonnellensis ) is the largest and best-known species. It lives in Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
- The fat-tailed pouch mouse ( Pseudantechinus mimulus ) lives along the Gulf of Carpentaria in the northern Northern Territory.
- The ningbing fat-tailed pouch mouse ( Pseudantechinus ningbing ) is slightly smaller than P. macdonnellensis and has a longer tail. This species lives in northeastern Western Australia and was only described in 1988.
- The Cooper fat-tailed pouch mouse ( Pseudantechinus roryi ) was not scientifically described until 2000.
- Woolley's fat-tailed pouch mouse ( Pseudantechinus woolleyae ) is native to northwestern Western Australia.
Fat-tailed pouch mice are physically similar to the broad-foot pouch mice ( Antechinus ) and were even placed in the same genus earlier. According to recent research, they are only distantly related to them.
literature
- Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999, ISBN 0801857899 .
- DE Wilson, DM Reeder: Mammal Species of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 2005, ISBN 0801882214 .
