Bronze quoll

Bronze quoll[1]
Conservation status

Near Threatened  (IUCN 3.1)[2]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Infraclass: Marsupialia
Order: Dasyuromorphia
Family: Dasyuridae
Genus: Dasyurus
Species: D. spartacus
Binomial name
Dasyurus spartacus
Van Dyck, 1987
Bronze quoll range

The bronze quoll (Dasyurus spartacus) is a species of quoll found only in the Trans Fly savanna and grasslands of New Guinea and West Papua.[2] It was discovered in the early 1970s when five specimens were collected, but only described in 1987 when Dr. Stephen Van Dyck of the Queensland Museum examined them and recognised their distinctness.[3] As of February 2013 there are twelve public museum specimens, 8 from traps and 4 from local hunters.[2]

Very little is known of it; it was previously thought to be an outlying population of the western quoll (Dasyurus geoffroii).[4]

As of February 2013 the estimated population of less than 10,000 it is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List. A nocturnal predator, it inhabits savanna woodlands. Its predators include domesticated and feral dogs, and feral cats. It has been observed in Wasur National Park and Tonda Wildlife Management Area.[2]

References

  1. Groves, C. P. (2005). Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M, eds. Mammal Species of the World (3rd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 25. OCLC 62265494. ISBN 0-801-88221-4.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Leary, T., Seri, L., Flannery, T., Wright, D., Hamilton, S., Helgen, K., Singadan, R., Menzies, J., Allison, A., James, R. & Woolley, P. (2008). Dasyurus spartacus. In: IUCN 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Retrieved 28 December 2008. Database entry includes justification for why this species is listed as near threatened
  3. Shuker, Karl (1993). The Lost Ark: New and Rediscovered Animals of the 20th Century. HarperCollins Publishers. p. 91. ISBN 0-00-219943-2.
  4. Firestone, Karen. "Population genetics of New Guinean quolls". University of New South Wales. Archived from the original on 2006-09-18. Retrieved 2007-02-02.