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Cladus: Eukaryota Name Dasyurus É. Geoffroy, 1796 Type species: Didelphis maculata Anon., 1791 Synonyms * Dasyurinus Matschie, 1916 Vernacular names References * Dasyurus on Mammal Species of the World. Quolls or native cats (genus Dasyurus) are carnivorous marsupials, native to Australia and Papua New Guinea. Adults are between 25 and 75 centimetres (30 in) long, with hairy tails about 20 to 35 centimetres (14 in) long. Females have six to eight nipples and develop a pouch—which opens towards the tail—only during the breeding season, when they are rearing young. Quolls live both in forests and in open valley land. Though primarily ground-dwelling, they have developed secondary arboreal characteristics. They do not have prehensile tails, but do have ridges on the pads of their feet.[2] Their molars and canines are strongly developed. Quolls are threatened by toxic cane toads, but a University of Sydney project revealed in 2010 is teaching them to avoid eating the invasive amphibians.[3] The tribe Dasyurini to which quolls belong also includes the Tasmanian devil, antechinuses, the Kowari, and mulgaras.[1] Taxonomy Within the genus Dasyurus, the following species exist:[1] * New Guinean Quoll, Dasyurus albopunctatus, New Guinea There is at least one fossil species from the Pliocene, that is D. dunmalli, described by Bartholomai in 1971.[4] The name Dasyurus means "hairy-tail",[5] and was coined by Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire in 1796. The first species described, the Tiger Quoll, was originally placed in the American opossum genus Didelphis. References 1. ^ a b c Groves, C. (2005). Wilson, D. E., & Reeder, D. M, eds. ed. Mammal Species of the World (3rd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 24–25. ISBN 0-801-88221-4. OCLC 62265494. http://www.bucknell.edu/msw3. Source: Wikipedia, Wikispecies: All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License |
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