Purple-necked rock-wallaby

The purple-necked rock-wallaby (Petrogale purpureicollis) is a species of rock-wallaby first described in 1924 by Albert Sherbourne Le Souef, then director of the Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia, who noted a purple colouration around the neck and cranial features that distinguish it from other rock-wallaby species.

Purple-necked rock-wallaby
Near Mount Isa, Queensland, Australia

Near Threatened  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Infraclass: Marsupialia
Order: Diprotodontia
Family: Macropodidae
Genus: Petrogale
Species:
P. purpureicollis
Binomial name
Petrogale purpureicollis
(Le Souef, 1924)
Purple-necked rock-wallaby range

The purple colouration was thought by some sceptical scientists to be due to the animal rubbing against a dye, but the animal does in fact secrete a purple pigment. The pigment is known to wash off in the rain and fade away after death, causing some possible confusion with other rock-wallaby species.

The species has undergone taxonomic upheaval for decades and has variously been classified as an unadorned rock-wallaby, brush-tailed rock-wallaby, and black-flanked rock-wallaby. Le Souef and others have asserted that it was a new species, and this has been affirmed by a 2001 paper in the Australian Journal of Zoology.

References
  1. McKnight, M. (2008). "Petrogale purpureicollis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2008. Retrieved 29 December 2008.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)


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