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Northern pig-footed bandicoot

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Extinct species of marsupial

Northern pig-footed bandicoot
Conservation status
Extinct (1950s)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Infraclass: Marsupialia
Order: Peramelemorphia
Family: †Chaeropodidae
Genus: †Chaeropus
Species: †C. yirratji
Binomial name
†Chaeropus yirratji
Travouillon et al. 2019

The northern pig-footed bandicoot (Chaeropus yirratji) was a small species of extinct herbivorous Australian marsupial in the genus Chaeropus, the pig-footed bandicoots. It has been believed to be extinct since the mid-20th century; the last confirmed observation was a specimen collected near Alice Springs in 1901, but reports from local Aborigines indicate that it may have survived in the Gibson and Great Sandy Deserts as late as the 1950s.

It very closely resembled and was formerly considered conspecific with the related southern pig-footed bandicoot, but unlike C. ecaudatus, C. yirratji was restricted to grassland habitats in the deserts of central and western Australia. It also had a longer tail and hind feet, a different dentition, fewer holes on its palate, and a distinct coat coloration. It had at least two different color morphs; a light morph and a dark morph. This species likely went extinct due to the introduction of invasive red foxes and feral cats, as well as habitat degradation for livestock.

References

  1. ^ "New species of extinct pig-footed bandicoot described from Australia". www.nhm.ac.uk. Retrieved 2019-03-15.
  2. Francis Harper (1945). Extinct and Vanishing Mammals of the Old World. New York, American Committee for International Wild Life Protection.
  3. ^ "New species of extinct pig-footed bandicoot described from Australia". www.nhm.ac.uk. Retrieved 2019-03-14.
  4. Louys, Julien; Cramb, Jonathan; Price, Gilbert J.; Stemmer, David; Brewer, Philippa; Brace, Selina; Miguez, Roberto Portela; Simões, Bruno F.; Travouillon, Kenny J. (2019-03-13). "Hidden in plain sight: reassessment of the pig-footed bandicoot, Chaeropus ecaudatus (Peramelemorphia, Chaeropodidae), with a description of a new species from central australia, and use of the fossil record to trace its past distribution". Zootaxa. 4566 (1): zootaxa.4566.1.1. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4566.1.1. ISSN 1175-5334. PMID 31716448. S2CID 92165477.
Taxon identifiers
Chaeropus yirratji
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