A new species of bushland marsupial has been identified from fossils found in caves in the Nullarbor – a large, flat and arid region in southern Australia.
The animal, which researchers say is likely now extinct (a ‘ghost’ of sorts), is a species a woylie, or brush-tailed bettong, a small kangaroo relative native to Australia.
It has been given the scientific name Bettongia haoucharee, though researchers plan to collaborate with Indigenous groups to establish a more appropriate name, as ‘woylie’ originates from the Noongar language (Australian Aboriginal language from the southwest of Western Australia).
The study, published today in the journal Zootaxa. also revealed two previously unknown subspecies of the living, critically endangered woylie (Bettongia penicillata ogilbyi).
These small marsupials are known as ecosystem engineers because they dig through soil in search of fungi, turning over tonnes of earth each year.
Once common across Australia, woylies are now restricted to small parts of Western Australia. They have earned themselves the unfortunate reputation of being the country’s most translocated mammal, as efforts to conserve them have involved numerous breeding and relocation programmes.
“Our results split the critically endangered woylie into two living subspecies, which is very important for conservation when we’re considering breeding and translocation initiatives to increase the size and fitness of populations,” says Jake Newman-Martin, a PhD student at Curtin University and lead author of the study.
Woylie or brush-tailed bettong is a small, critically endangered mammal native to Australia. Credit: Getty
Measuring skull and body fossil material that had previously not been looked at in detail was integral to discovering the new species and subspecies, says co-author Dr Kenny Travouillon, Curator of Terrestrial Zoology at the Western Australian Museum.
“This research confirmed several distinct species and expanded the known diversity of woylies,” adds Travouillon. “What we’ve found through this research tells us that examining fossils alongside genetic tools could offer significant insights that may help conservation efforts of this critically endangered native species.”
Top image: Nullarbor cave (not one of the sites where the fossil was discovered). Credit: Getty
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