Quoll
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| Didelphis maculata Anon., 1791 (= Didelphis viverrina Shaw, 1800 |
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Quolls or native cats (genus Dasyurus) are carnivorous marsupials, native to Australia and Papua New Guinea. Adults are between 25 and 75 cm long, with hairy tails about 20-35 cm long. Females have six to eight nipples and develop a pouch—which opens towards the tail—only during the breeding season, when they are rearing young. The babies are the size of a grain of rice. Quolls live both in forests and in open valley land. Though primarily ground-dwelling, they have developed secondary arboreal characteristics. Their molars and canines are strongly developed.
[edit] Taxonomy
Within the genus Dasyurus, the following species exist:
- New Guinean Quoll, Dasyurus albopunctatus, New Guinea
- Western Quoll or Chuditch, Dasyurus geoffroii, western Australia
- Northern Quoll, Dasyurus hallucatus, northern Australia
- Tiger Quoll or Spotted Quoll, Dasyurus maculatus, eastern Australia
- Bronze Quoll, Dasyurus spartacus, New Guinea
- Eastern Quoll, Dasyurus viverrinus, Tasmania (formerly mainland eastern Australia)
[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, 24-25. ISBN 0-801-88221-4.
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