AY Honors/Marsupials/Answer Key

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Template:StatusVulnerable Template:Taxobox image Template:Taxobox begin placement Template:Taxobox regnum entry Template:Taxobox phylum entry Template:Taxobox classis entry Template:Taxobox subclassis entry Template:Taxobox ordo entry Template:Taxobox familia entry Template:Taxobox genus entry
Template:Taxobox authority Template:Taxobox end placement Template:Taxobox section subdivision See text. Template:Taxobox end Quolls (genus Dasyurus) are carnivorous marsupials, native to Australia and Papua New Guinea. Adults are between 25 and 75 cm long, with hairy tails about 20-35 cm 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. Their molars and canines are strongly developed.

Taxonomy

Within the genus Dasyurus, the following species exist:

• Dasyurus albopunctatus — New Guinean Quoll, New Guinea
• Dasyurus geoffroii — Chuditch or Western Quoll, Western Australia
• Dasyurus hallucatus — Northern Quoll, Northern Australia
• Dasyurus maculatus — Spotted Quoll (Tiger Quoll), Eastern Australia and [[[Tasmania]]
• Dasyurus spartacus — Bronze Quoll, New Guinea
• Dasyurus viverrinus — Eastern Quoll, Tasmania

Western Quoll (chuditch) - Dasyurus geoffroii

- The western quoll is mainly found in the southwest portion of Western Australia in the Jarrah forest, though their range once covered Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia.

- Dasyurus geoffroii usually sport a brown or black (rarer) coat with white spots along their lean, short-legged bodies. The face is paler than the rest of the fur while the ears are white-rimmed.

- Western quolls are roughly the size of a cat and have pointed facial features along with large eyes and rounded ears. They measure roughly 36 cm to 46 cm in body length, tail length ranges from 22 to 30 cm. Females are the smaller of the species.

- Western quoll have a life span of 5.5 years in captivity and 3-4 years in the wild.

- Their diet is rather diverse, ranging from large insects, to small vertebrates, to carrion. In arid habitats they have been found to eat mammals the size of rabbits, lizards, frogs, and invertebrates. In forested habitats they consume insects, freshwater crustaceans, reptiles, parrot-sized birds, and rabbit-sized mammals. In human-settled areas they will raid chicken coops and rubbish bins.

- Dasyurus geoffroii kills larger prey by biting the back of the head or neck. This carnivore is primarily a ground forager and nocturnal though it does occasionally climb trees.

Northern quoll - Dasyurus hallucatus

-Dasyurus hallucatus now appears to be restricted to six areas in Australia: the Hamersley Range; the Northern Kimberley; northern and western Top End; Cape York tip; Atherton Tableland; and Carnarvon Range. In the past they lived over a larger range of northern Australia, extending from the Pilbara region of Western Australia to southeastern Queensland.

- Dasyurus hallucatus is the smallest of the four quoll species, weighing, at most, 2 pounds. Males tend to be larger than females, ranging in weight from 400 grams to 900 grams. Females weigh between 300 grams and 500 grams. Differences in weights between sexes can be observed as early as five months of age. Head and body length of D. hallucatus ranges from 240 to 350 millimeters and tail length ranges from 210 to 310 millimeters.

-Individuals have prominent white or cream blotches on the back and side of their grey-brown to brown coat. The tip and entire ventral surface of the tail is dark brown or black. Their coat is generally short and coarse, with little underfur. They have five toes and striated pads on the hindfeet, which are probably an adaptation for climbing on smooth, rocky surfaces.

-Little northern native cats are very aggressive carnivores . Their diet varies and can include mammals such as Large Rock Rats, Common Rock Rats, and Sandstone Antechinus, as well as reptiles, worms, ants, termites, grasshoppers, beetles, figs and other soft fruits.