Southern ningaui

Southern ningaui[1]
Southern ningaui captured in the Middleback Ranges, South Australia, 2011.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Infraclass: Marsupialia
Order: Dasyuromorphia
Family: Dasyuridae
Genus: Ningaui
Species: N. yvonneae
Binomial name
Ningaui yvonneae
Kitchener, Stoddart & Henry, 1983
Southern ningaui range

The southern ningaui (Ningaui yvonneae), also known as the mallee ningaui, is a tiny species of marsupial carnivore and a member of the family Dasyuridae. It is found in a number of isolated populations in Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales and Victoria.[3]

The southern ningaui is distinguished from the two other species of ningaui by a more reddish tinge on its face and overall darker colouring. Its diet mainly consists of a wide range of invertebrates, although it has been observed eating small reptiles on occasion.[4] It is largely a nocturnal animal.[3]

Life cycle

The southern ningaui lives for approximately 14 months.[5] The females are seasonally polyoestrus[6] and the breeding season lasts from September to early February. Only one litter is produced per season which, as the life span is so short, means the female ningaui only produces one litter in her lifetime. Generally there is only a single cohort present, aside from just after the breeding season when the juveniles are present but the previous cohort has not yet died off.[5]

References

  1. ↑ 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. 32. ISBN 0-801-88221-4. OCLC 62265494.
  2. ↑ Ellis, M.; Menkhorst, P.; van Weenen, J. & Burbidge, A. (2008). "Ningaui yvonneae". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2008. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 28 December 2008.
  3. 1 2 Menkhorst, Peter (2001). A Field Guide to the Mammals of Australia. Oxford University Press. p. 62.
  4. ↑ Fisher, D.; Dickman, C. (1993). "Diets of insectivorous marsupials in arid Australia: Selection for prey type, size or hardness?". Journal of Arid Environments. 25: 397–410. doi:10.1006/jare.1993.1072.
  5. 1 2 Bos, D; Carthew, S. (2001). "Population ecology of Ningaui yvonneae (Dasyuridae : Marsupialia) in the Middleback Ranges, Eyre Peninsula, South Australia". Wildlife Research. 28: 507–515. doi:10.1071/WR00021.
  6. ↑ Kitchener, D; Cooper, N.; Bradley, A. (1986). "Reproduction in male Ningaui (Marsupialia : Dasyuridae)". Australian Wildlife Research. 13: 13–25. doi:10.1071/wr9860013.


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