Dunnart (Redirected from Sminthopsis)
Dunnart | |
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White-footed dunnart (Sminthopsis leucopus) | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Infraclass: | Marsupialia |
Order: | Dasyuromorphia |
Family: | Dasyuridae |
Subfamily: | Sminthopsinae |
Tribe: | Sminthopsini |
Genus: | Sminthopsis Thomas, 1887 |
Type species | |
Phascogale crassicaudata Gould, 1844
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Species | |
23, see text |
Dunnart (from Noongar donat) is a common name for species of the genus Sminthopsis, narrow-footed marsupials the size of a European mouse. They have a largely insectivorous diet.
Taxonomy
The genus name Sminthopsis was published by Oldfield Thomas in 1887, the author noting that the name Podabrus that had previously been used to describe the species was preoccupied as a genus of beetles. The type species is Phascogale crassicaudata, published by John Gould in 1844.
There are 19 species, all of which occur in Australia and New Guinea:
- Genus Sminthopsis
- S. crassicaudata species-group
- S. macroura species-group
- S. granulipes species-group
- S. griseoventer species-group
- S. longicaudata species-group
- S. murina species-group
- S. psammophila species-group
The genus is referred to by their common name of dunnarts.
Description
A male dunnart's Y chromosome is the smallest known mammalian Y chromosome.