Proserpine Rock-wallaby

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Proserpine Rock-wallaby^[1]

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Subclass:	Marsupialia
Order:	Diprotodontia
Family:	Macropodidae
Genus:	Petrogale
Species:	P. persephone

Binomial name

Petrogale persephone
Maynes, 1982

The Proserpine Rock-wallaby (Petrogale persephone) is a species of rock-wallaby restricted to a small area in the Whitsunday Shire in Queensland, Australia. It is the only member of its genus to be a threatened species, being classified by the IUCN as endangered.^[2]

The Proserpine Rock-wallaby is mostly grey in colour and is a timid grass-eater that never ventures far from rock shelter.^[3] It is distinguished from the many other rock wallabies found in north-eastern Queensland by its larger size and longer tail, tipped with white. It was unknown to science until 1977, when a single individual was captured after farmers at Proserpine had spoken of a strange form of rock wallaby in the area.^[4]

The Proserpine Rock-wallaby is found only in a relatively intensively-settled area, but it is competition with other more successful rock-wallaby species that is probably responsible for its threatened status.^[5]

[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, 68. ISBN 0-801-88221-4.
^ ^a ^b Australasian Marsupial & Monotreme Specialist Group (1996). Petrogale persephone. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 2007-01-01.
^ Menkhorst, Peter (2001). A Field Guide to the Mammals of Australia. Oxford University Press, 132.
^ Karl Shuker, Gerald Durrell (1993). Lost Ark: New and Rediscovered Animals of the Twentieth Century. HarperCollins Publishers, 81. ISBN 0-00-219943-2.
^ Maynes & Sharman, G.M. & G.B. (1981). Proserpine Rock-wallaby in The Complete Book of Australian Mammals (ed. Ronald Strahan). Oxford University Press, 220.