Fawn antechinus
| Fawn antechinus[1] | |
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| Species: | A. bellus
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| Binomial name | |
| Antechinus bellus (Thomas, 1904)
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| Distribution of the fawn antechinus | |
The fawn antechinus (Antechinus bellus) is a species of small carnivorous marsupial found in northern Australia. It is the only Antechinus to be found in the Northern Territory and has a patchy, restricted range.
Taxonomy
The earliest collection of a fawn antechinus was made by John T. Tunney,[3] and first described in 1904 by the renowned biologist Oldfield Thomas, who gave it the species name bellus, meaning beautiful.[4] It has never been confused with other species.
It is a member of the family Dasyuridae and of the genus Antechinus (meaning "hedgehog-equivalent"), which has nine other members.
Description
The fawn antechinus is unique among antechinuses, being considerably paler than many of its relatives. It is a light grey colour and is distinguished from the only other similar species in the area where it lives (the sandstone dibbler and the red-cheeked dunnart) by its larger size and paler colouring. It is insectivorous and, like many of its relatives, all of the males die after the breeding season .[5]
The fawn antechinus has a breeding season during August. Young are born in September–October in litters of up to ten, and are usually weaned by January.[5]
Distribution and habitat
The fawn antechinus is found in the Top End of the Northern Territory, where it is fairly common.[4] It inhabits tall, fairly open forest in the tropics.
References
- ^ Groves, C. P. (2005). Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M. (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 29. ISBN 0-801-88221-4. OCLC 62265494.
- ^ IUCN World Conservation congress, 2016
- ^ Kristofer M. Helgen; Roberto Portela Miguez; James Kohen; Lauren Helgen (2012). "Twentieth century occurrence of the Long-Beaked Echidna Zaglossus bruijnii in the Kimberley region of Australia". ZooKeys. 255: 103–132. doi:10.3897/zookeys.255.3774.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link) - ^ a b Calaby, J.H. (1995). "Fawn Antechinus". In Strahan, Ronald (ed.). The Mammals of Australia. Reed Books. pp. 85–86.
- ^ a b Menkhorst, Peter (2001). A Field Guide to the Mammals of Australia. Oxford University Press. p. 54.