Northern brushtail butler
| Northern brushtail butler | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Phascogale pirata | ||||||||||||
| ( Thomas , 1904) |
The northern brushtail beetle ( Phascogale pirata ) is a member of the predator family and occurs in the far north of the Australian Northern Territory and on Melville Island .
features
Males of the northern brushtail butler have a head-trunk length of about 21 cm, a tail about 20 cm long and weigh about 230 g. Females stay a little smaller with head and torso lengths of 15 to 19 cm, tail lengths of 20 to 21 cm and a weight of 108 to 150 g. With their gray color, the animals are similar to the Great Brushtail Bag ( Phascogale tapoatafa ) but have white hair on the upper side of the hind feet, while this is gray in the Big Brush Tail Bag . The Northern Brushtail Butler's ears are longer and the peritoneum is white, while the Greater Brushtail Butler has a cream-colored peritoneum. The rear tail section of the animals is black and bushy.
Habitat and way of life
The northern brushtail bucket lives in forests with tall trees ( Eucalyptus miniata and Eucalyptus tetrodonta ). Nests are built to rest in knotholes in old trees. The animals are solitary, nocturnal and tree-dwelling (arboreal). They feed mainly on invertebrates that they find on and under the tree bark. Little is known about reproduction. It takes place in the middle of the year (Australian winter). Males die after mating and the females can have up to 8 young.
Systematics
The northern brushtail butler was first described in 1904 by the British zoologist Oldfield Thomas as a subspecies of the big brushtail butler. It is now considered to be a separate species, as the genetic distance ( mitochondrial DNA ) between the two forms is 9.4 to 18.6%. Morphological differences between the animals living on Melville Island and those on the mainland may lead to the species being divided into two subspecies in the future.
Danger
The northern brushtail bagger is listed as endangered (Vulnerable) by the IUCN . The population is likely to be less than 10,000 adult animals, possibly less than 2,500. The range used to be larger and it also came to the Gove Peninsula , on the Katherine River 200 to 4,500 km south of Darwin , on the Daly River and on the Sir Edward Pellew Islands . In the remainder of the distribution area of the northern brushtail beetle there are three national parks, Kakadu , Garig-Gunak-Barlu and Litchfield . Bushfires and the stalking of feral domestic cats and the human-introduced cane toad are considered to be the main threats to the species.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Andrew Baker: Family Dasyuridae (Carnivorous Marsupials). Page 325 in Don E. Wilson , Russell A. Mittermeier : Handbook of the Mammals of the World - Volume 5. Monotremes and Marsupials. Lynx Editions, 2015, ISBN 978-84-96553-99-6
- ↑ Phascogale pirata in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2008. Posted by: Woinarski, J., Rhind, S. & Oakwood, M., 2008. Accessed March 22, 2018th