AY Honors/Marsupials/Answer Key

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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.

Sources: http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Dasyurus_geoffroii.html http://www1.bushheritage.asn.au/default.aspx?MenuID=157&ContentID=264 http://www.marsupialcrc.com.au/webhome/Marsupial%20tales/Chuditch.htm http://www.museum.vic.gov.au/bioinformatics/mammals/images/thumblmar.htm

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.

Sources: http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Dasyurus_hallucatus.html http://www.2docstock.com/NT-Cobourg.html http://www.2docstock.com/NT-animals.html http://www.westernwildlife.com.au/western/mammals/quoll.htm

Eastern Quoll - Dasyurus viverrinus

- Eastern quolls once lived in southeastern Australia, Tasmania, Kangaroo Island, and King Island (Nowak, 1991). They were last seen in the Sydney suburb of Vaucluse in the 1960's and are now extinct from the Australian mainland.

- Eastern quolls are still common in Tasmania.

- Eastern quolls are the size of small cats. Generally, females are smaller than males with females ranging from 600 to 1,030 grams and males ranging from 850 to 1,550 grams in weight. Head and body length ranges between 350 and 450 mm and tail length from 210 to 300 mm.

- Fur colors range from black to brown or tan with white spots on their bodies. The tail may have a white tip. Quolls have a pink nose and ears, a thick snout, a pointed muzzle, and very sharp teeth.

- Dasyurus viverrinus differs from other species in this genus in that it lacks a first toe on the hind foot and the pads of the feet are granulated, rather than striated as in the other species.

- Eastern quolls are predatory, they are primarily nocturnal and feed mainly on insects, though small vertebrates (small marsupials, rats, rabbits, and mice), carrion, and some vegetable matter may be taken as well. Preferred foods are the cockshafer beetle, corbie shrub, dead animals, and fruit.

Sources: http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Dasyurus_viverrinus.html http://www.museum.vic.gov.au/bioinformatics/mammals/images/thumblmar.htm

Tiger Quoll - Dasyurus maculatus

- Dasyurus maculatus is found in Australia. There are two subspecies; D. maculatus gracilis, which inhabits northern Queensland, and D. maculatus maculatus, which is found from southern Queensland to Tasmania.

- D. maculatus is the largest of the quolls with a body and head length of 400-750 mm and a tail length of 350-560 mm. It has an average adult wieght of two to three kg. Males have reached up to seven kg and females have reached up to four kg.

- It can be identified by its dark brown fur and various sized white spots, and unlike other quolls, it has spots on its tail.

- D. maculatus is largely carnivorous, with diet consisting mostly of small and medium-sized mammals, birds, invertebrates, reptiles, and sometimes, larger mammals. Medium sized mammals make up about two-thirds of their diet. Younger individuals tend to eat more smaller mammals than do the adults.

- Quolls are effective hunters, but they also take carrion from dingo or dog kills. At times, they have raided poulty farms. In Tasmania, spotted tailed quolls often loose prey to Tasmanian devils because the quolls do not consume their prey quickly enough.

Sources: http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Dasyurus_maculatus.html http://www.museum.vic.gov.au/bioinformatics/mammals/images/thumblmar.htm http://www.abc.net.au/illawarra/stories/s444977.htm http://www.talune.com.au/photos/tigquoll.html

New Guinean Quoll - Dasyurus albopunctatus

- While, usually weighing just over a pound, the New Guinea quoll is the largest surviving marsupial carnivore of New Guinea's rainforests.

- The New Guinea quoll is small and brown, with white spots on its back and a somewhat hairy tail.

- It lives throughout the forested areas of New Guinea at elevations usually around 3,280 feet, but can be found at elevations up to 11,000 feet.

- Said to eat prey as large as or larger than itself, most New Guineans acknowledge the quoll as a fierce predator and some refer to it as "stilman," a Pidgin term meaning "thief," because it often steals their prey.

Sources: http://www.worldwildlife.org/expeditions/newguinea/spec_ngq.cfm http://www.bees.unsw.edu.au/staff/visiting/firestone/projects.html

Bronze Quoll - Dasyurus spartacus

- Second species of New Guinean quoll.

No other information available at this time.

Sources: http://www.worldwildlife.org/expeditions/newguinea/spec_ngq.cfm http://www.bees.unsw.edu.au/staff/visiting/firestone/projects.html