Bettongia anhydra, also known as desert bettong, is a recently extinct species of potoroine marsupial.
| Bettongia anhydra | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Infraclass: | Marsupialia |
| Order: | Diprotodontia |
| Family: | Potoroidae |
| Genus: | Bettongia |
| Species: | †B. anhydra
|
| Binomial name | |
| †Bettongia anhydra H. H. Finlayson, 1957.[1]
| |
Taxonomy
editA skull collected in the 1930s that was placed as Bettongia penicillata anhydra, and later regarded as a synonym of Bettongia lesueur. The first description was by Hedley Herbert Finlayson, published in 1957.[1][2] An examination of morphology and molecular evidence proposed this specimen as the type of this new species. The type was collected from a fresh carcass at Lake Mackay in the western Northern Territory by Michael Terry in 1933.[3]
The phylogeny of the species separates this species and B. lesueur from lineages that emerged at a later period.[3]
Description
editA species of genus Bettongia, small to medium sized mammals that are usually nocturnal and fungivorous. The dentary of Bettongia anhydra resembles that of the Potorous species and those of the bettong genus.[3]
References
edit- ^ a b Finlayson, H.H. (July 1957). "Preliminary description of two new forms of Bettongia (Marsupialia)". Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 10 (115): 552–554. doi:10.1080/00222935708655996. ISSN 0374-5481.
- ^ "Species Bettongia anhydra Finlayson, 1957 (extinct)". Australian Faunal Directory. biodiversity.org.au. Retrieved 17 March 2019.
- ^ a b c Prideaux, G.J.; Baynes, A.; Bunce, M.; Aplin, K.P.; Haouchar, D.; McDowell, M.C. (25 April 2015). "Morphological and molecular evidence supports specific recognition of the recently extinct Bettongia anhydra (Marsupialia: Macropodidae)". Journal of Mammalogy. 96 (2): 287–296. doi:10.1093/jmammal/gyv006. ISSN 0022-2372.