Dasyuridae

Tasmanian Devil ( Sarcophilus harrisi )

The Dasyuridae ( Dasyuridae ) are a family within the marsupial order of Dasyuridae -like ( Dasyuromorphia ). In this group, which includes about 60 species, including Quoll, Tasmanian Devil and bags mice are summarized.

Dissemination

Dasyuridae arriving in Australia, in New Guinea, Tasmania and other islands.

Description

Dasyuridae are fundamentally similar in physique, in terms of their size there are considerable differences. Flathead bag Mice and Ningauis be partly only about 10 inches long and weigh 5 grams, the Tasmanian Devil as the largest species reach over a meter in length and a weight of over 10 kilograms. The front and rear legs are approximately equal in length to the front legs, they have five, on the hind legs of four or five toe, they are ( in contrast to the DIPROTODONTIA ) separately. In some tree-dwelling species, the big toe is opponierbar. The 42 to 46 teeth are aligned for the consumption of meat, Dasyuridae have many small incisors, large canines and molars with sharp biting surfaces.

Way of life

Dasyuridae are mainly active at night, during the day they hide in burrows, hollow logs or in nests of grass, twigs and leaves. Most species are ground dwellers, although there are also some kinds of bags mice that live predominantly in trees. They are considered as skilled hunters with keen senses. Dasyuridae are primarily carnivores. Depending on the size they feed on smaller insects and other arthropods, the larger also of vertebrates, while they can sometimes overwhelm animals that are the same size or larger than themselves. Some species also consume nectar or carrion.

Reproduction

Although Dasyuridae among the marsupials, not all types a bag. Sometimes the young are also housed in tummy tucks, in other species a bag developed only during pregnancy. Females usually have six to eight teats and are characterized by a marsupial for relatively long gestation period. A special feature of some genera, such as the Breitfuß Bag mice or brush tail marsupials is that almost all males die at the same time after the first mating, are thus often only ten or eleven months old. For the other species, the life expectancy is low, many bags mice are not older than two to three years.

Threat

Many species have by human influences - lost part of their original habitat - especially since the arrival of Europeans. These influences are, firstly, the colonization and the conversion of prairies and forests to cropland and pastures, on the other hand, the entrainment of carnivores that originally did not occur in Australia, such as dingoes, cats or foxes. Six Dasyuridae species classified by the IUCN as endangered ( endangered ).

Genera and species

Among the better-known species include the Tasmanian Devil and the Quoll. Many of the smaller genera and species are grouped under the term " bag Mice ", which expression is not a biological classification, as some species are more closely related to the large predatory marsupials than another.

The Dasyuridae be divided into the following classes:

• Subfamily Dasyurinae Tribus Dasyurini Comb tail bag mouse or Mulgara ( Dasycercus cristicauda )
• Red Breitfuß bag mouse ( Dasykaluta rosamondae )
• Double comb - bag mouse or Kowari ( Dasyuroides byrnei )
• Quoll ( Dasyurus ), six species
• Strip Quoll ( Myoictis ), two types
• Shrews Beutler ( Neophascogale lorentzi )
• Sprenkelbeutelmaus ( Parantechinus apicalis )
• Stripe bag mice ( Phascolosorex ), two types
• Fat tail bag mice ( Pseudantechinus ), six species
• Tasmanian Devil ( Sarcophilus harrisii )

• Breitfuß Bag mice ( Antechinus ), ten species
• Brush tail Beutler ( Phascogale ), two types
• Guinea - pouch mice ( Micromurexia, Murexechinus, Murexia, Paramurexia, Phascomurexia ), a total of five types

• Tribus Sminthopsini Spring bag mouse or Kultarr ( Antechinomys laniger )
• Ningauis ( Ningaui ), three types
• Schmalfuß Bag mice ( Sminthopsis ), about twenty species

• Flathead bag mice ( Planigale ), five species