Phascogale

The phascogales (members of the eponymous genus Phascogale), also known as wambengers or mousesacks, are carnivorous Australian marsupials of the family Dasyuridae. There are three species: the brush-tailed phascogale (Phascogale tapoatafa), the red-tailed phascogale (Phascogale calura), and the northern brush-tailed phascogale (Phascogale pirata). As with a number of dasyurid species, the males live for only one year, dying after a period of frenzied mating. The term Phascogale was coined in 1824 by Coenraad Jacob Temminck in reference to the brush-tailed phascogale, and means "pouched weasel". All three species are listed as either Near Threatened or Vulnerable by the IUCN.

Phascogale
Brush-tailed phascogale (Phascogale tapoatafa)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Infraclass: Marsupialia
Order: Dasyuromorphia
Family: Dasyuridae
Subfamily: Dasyurinae
Tribe: Phascogalini
Genus: Phascogale
Temminck, 1824
Type species
Didelphis penicillata
Shaw, 1800
(= Vivera tapoatafa, F. Meyer, 1793
Species

Phylogeny

The following is a phylogenetic tree based on mitochondrial genome sequences:[1]

Dasyuromorphia
 

Thylacinus (thylacine)

 
 
 

Myrmecobius (numbat)

 
 
 

Sminthopsis (dunnarts)

 
 
 

Phascogale (wambengers)

 
 

Dasyurus (quolls)

 
 
 
 
 

Life cycle
Wambenger in a habitat.

Mating generally happens between May and July. All males die soon after mating. Females give birth to about 6 young ones about 30 days after mating. Phascogales do not have the true pouch that is found in most other marsupials . Instead, they form temporary folds of skin - sometimes called a "pseudo-pouch" around the mammary glands during pregnancy. Young stay in this pseudo-pouch area, nursing for about 7 weeks before being moved to a nest where they stay until they are weaned at about 20 weeks of age. Females live for about 3 years, and generally produce one litter.

References
  1. "The mitochondrial genome sequence of the Tasmanian tiger (Thylacinus cynocephalus)". Genome Res. 19 (2): 213–20. February 2009. doi:10.1101/gr.082628.108. PMC 2652203. PMID 19139089.

• Brush-tailed Phascogale fact sheet: . Also:

• Red-tailed Phascogale fact sheet: . Also:


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