Stripe-faced dunnart

Stripe-faced dunnart
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Infraclass: Marsupialia
Order: Dasyuromorphia
Family: Dasyuridae
Genus: Sminthopsis
Species:
S. macroura
Binomial name
Sminthopsis macroura
(Gould, 1845)
Stripe-faced dunnart range
Sminthopsis macroura

The striped-faced dunnart (Sminthopsis macroura) is a small, Australian, nocturnal, "marsupial mouse," part of the family Dasyuridae. The species' distribution occurs throughout much of inland central and northern Australia, occupying a range of arid and semi-arid habitats.

While the species has a broad distribution range, it has been declining across much of Australia, including the western region of New South Wales (NSW). This is due to several threatening processes, primarily habitat degradation.[2]

This has led to the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage listing the species as 'vulnerable'.[3] The species is not listed on the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species list the species as of 'least concern'.[1]

Recent genetic studies have discovered that this dunnart species is in fact three distinct species that over several million years diverged from each other. However, because they are difficult to distinguish, they tend to be treated as a single species.[citation needed]

The three subspecies are as follows:

  • Sminthopsis macroura macroura in central, eastern, and western Australia
  • S.m. stalkeri in central northern Australia
  • S.m. froggatti in the Kimberley region[4]
  1. ^ a b Woinarski, J.; Dickman, C. (2016). "Sminthopsis macroura". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T40546A21949068. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-2.RLTS.T40546A21949068.en. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  2. ^ Frank, Anke; Soderquist, Todd (2005). "The importance of refuge habitat in the local conservation of stripe-faced dunnarts Sminthopsis macroura on arid rangelands". Australian Mammalogy. 27: 75–79. doi:10.1071/AM05075.
  3. ^ "Stripe-faced Dunnart - profile | NSW Environment & Heritage". www.environment.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 2016-06-07.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).