Striped pouch marten

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Striped pouch marten
Myoictis wallacii

Myoictis wallacii

Systematics
Class : Mammals (mammalia)
Subclass : Marsupials (Marsupialia)
Superordinate : Australidelphia
Order : Raubbeutleriformes (Dasyuromorphia)
Family : Predator (Dasyuridae)
Genre : Striped pouch marten
Scientific name
Myoictis
Gray , 1858

The striped marten ( Myoictis ) are a genus of marsupials from the family of the predatory pouches (Dasyuridae). It owes its name to the similarities in physique with martens or mongooses , to which it is not related. The genus includes four species, the Woolley striped bag marten ( Myoictis leucura ), the Müller striped bag marten ( Myoictis melas ), the Wallace striped bag marten ( Myoictis wallacii ) and the Tate striped bag marten ( Myoictis wavicus ).

description

These animals are some of the most colorful predatory baggers. Their brown fur has three black vertical stripes on the back, the spaces between them can be colored yellow. The dark red head has a black nasal stripe. The throat is bright red and the belly yellowish-gray in color. The long tail is covered with long reddish hair. The animals reach a head body length of 17 to 25 centimeters, a tail length of 15 to 23 centimeters and a weight of around 200 grams.

Way of life

Striped martens live exclusively on New Guinea and smaller offshore islands, whereby M. walacii is only known from the Aru Islands . Almost nothing is known about their way of life. Their habitat are primarily deeper rainforests, they are likely to be nocturnal like most predatory fish. Their diet consists at least in part of smaller vertebrates like mice and rats, for which they are popular with the local population.

There is little reliable information about the degree of endangerment and the IUCN lists this as low risk.

literature

Web links

Commons : Striped Marten ( Myoictis )  - Collection of images, videos and audio files