AY Honors/Marsupials/Answer Key

Quolls Template:StatusVulnerable
Template:Taxonomy
Template:Regnum: Animalia Template:Phylum: Chordata Template:Classis: Mammalia Template:Subclassis: Marsupialia Template:Ordo: Dasyuromorphia Template:Familia: Dasyuridae Template:Genus: Dasyurus

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.

The eastern quoll (or native cat, as it is sometimes called) has two color phases--ginger-brown or black, both with white spots on the body.

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
• Dasyurus spartacus — Bronze Quoll, New Guinea
• Dasyurus viverrinus — Eastern Quoll, Tasmania