Potoroidae

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iPotoroidae

Woylie (Bettongia penicillata)

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Infraclass:	Marsupialia
Order:	Diprotodontia
Suborder:	Macropodiformes
Family:	Potoroidae Gray, 1821

Genera

Aepyprymnus
Bettongia
Caloprymnus
Potorous

The marsupial family Potoroidae includes the bettongs, potoroos and two of the rat-kangaroos. All are small, brown, jumping marsupials and resemble a large rodent or a very small wallaby.

The potoroids are, like nearly all diprotodonts, herbivorous. However, while they take a wide variety of vegetable foods, most have a particular taste for the fruiting bodies of fungi, and often depend on fungi to see them through periods when there is little else to eat in the dry Australian bush. One example of a potoroo that sustains itself on fungi is the Long-footed Potoroo. This animal's diet is almost entirely made up of fungal spores. This limits its habitat range as it needs to live in a moist environment, with dense cover to reduce predation from introduced species such as foxes and feral cats.

There are four species of bettong: including the Northern Bettong (Bettongia tropica) and the Eastern Bettong (Bettongia gaimadi). Bettongs were endangered because settlers took much of their habitat and the foxes they introduced to the island also killed many of them. At one time, both species lived all over Australia. But today, the Tasmanian Bettong lives only in the eastern half of Tasmania, and the Northern Bettong lives only in three isolated populations in northern Queensland.

[edit] Classification

Family Potoroidae
- Genus †Wakiewakie
- Genus †Purtia
- Genus ?†Palaeopotorous
- Subfamily †Bulungamayinae
  - Genus †'Wabularoo
    - †Wabularoo hilarus
    - †Wabularoo naughtoni
  - Genus †Bulungamaya
- Subfamily Potoroinae
  - Genus Aepyprymnus
    - Rufous Rat-kangaroo, Aepyprymnus rufescens
  - Genus Bettongia
    - Eastern Bettong, Bettongia gaimardi
    - Boodie, Bettongia lesueur
    - Woylie, Bettongia penicillata
    - Northern Bettong, Bettongia tropica
    - †Bettongia moyesi
  - Genus Caloprymnus
    - Desert Rat-kangaroo, Caloprymnus campestris
  - Genus Potorous
    - Long-footed Potoroo, Potorous longipes
    - †Broad-faced Potoroo, Potorous platyops
    - Long-nosed Potoroo, Potorous tridactylus
    - Gilbert's Potoroo, Potorous gilbertii
  - Genus †Gumardee
    - †Gumardee pascuali
  - Genus †Milliyowi
    - †Milliyowi bunganditj

[edit] References

Groves, Colin (16 November 2005). Wilson, D. E., and Reeder, D. M. (eds): Mammal Species of the World, 3rd edition, Johns Hopkins University Press, 56-58. ISBN 0-801-88221-4.