Alexandria False Antechinus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
||||||||||||||||
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||
| Pseudantechinus mimulus (Thomas 1906) |
The Alexandria False Antechinus (Pseudantechinus mimulus), also known as the Carpentarian False Antechinus, is a small carnivorous marsupial, found only in a number of small, isolated localities in northern Australia. It is the smallest and rarest of the false antechinuses.[3]
Contents |
[edit] Description
The Alexandria False Antechinus is coloured buff brown above and greyish white below. Its main distinguishing feature from other false antechinuses is its small size.[4] The behaviour of this species has not been described.[3]
[edit] Habitat
This species is found only in five localities: near Mt Isa in northwestern Queensland; Alexandria Station in the Northern Territory; and three small islands in the Sir Edward Pellew Group, in the north-east of the territory. It inhabits stony hillsides with woodland and spinifex grass.[3]
[edit] Conservation status
The Alexandria False Antechinus has a very limited distribution, which has resulted in its classification by the IUCN as vulnerable. On the offshore islands it inhabits, it is fairly common; however, it is rare and, in 1995, had not been seen on the mainland since 1905, when it was discovered.[4]
[edit] Classification
The Alexandria False Antechinus has had a long history of confusion with the Fat-tailed False Antechinus (P. macdonnellensis) ever since it was first described by Oldfield Thomas in 1906. W.D.L. Ride suppressed the species in 1971, placing it with the Fat-tailed False Antechinus, but it was restored by D.J. Kitchener in 1991. Its scientific name means "little mimic of false-antechinus".[4]
The Alexandria False Antechinus is a member of the dasyurid family. It is closely related to the other species of false antechinus.
[edit] References
- ^ Groves, Colin (16 November 2005). in Wilson, D. E., and Reeder, D. M. (eds): Mammal Species of the World, 3rd edition, Johns Hopkins University Press, 27. ISBN 0-801-88221-4.
- ^ Australasian Marsupial & Monotreme Specialist Group (1996). Pseudantechinus mimulus. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 2006-12-09.
- ^ a b c Menkhorst, Peter (2001). A Field Guide to the Mammals of Australia. Oxford University Press, 60.
- ^ a b c Johnson, K.A. & D.G. Langford (1995), "Carpentarian Pseudantechinus", in Strahan, Ronald, The Mammals of Australia, Reed Books, at 77-78
