Fawn antechinus

The fawn antechinus (Antechinus bellus) is a species of small carnivorous marsupial found in northern Australia. It is the only Antechinus to be found in the Northern Territory and has a patchy, restricted range.

Fawn antechinus[1]
Conservation status
Vulnerable  (IUCN 3.1)[2]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Infraclass:	Marsupialia
Order:	Dasyuromorphia
Family:	Dasyuridae
Genus:	Antechinus
Species:	A. bellus
Binomial name
Antechinus bellus (Thomas, 1904)
Distribution of the fawn antechinus

Taxonomy

The earliest scientific collection of a fawn antechinus was made by John T. Tunney,^[3] and the first zoological description was made in 1904 by the renowned biologist Oldfield Thomas, who gave it the species name bellus, meaning beautiful.^[4] It has never been confused with other species.

It is a member of the family Dasyuridae and of the genus Antechinus (meaning "hedgehog-equivalent"), which has nine other members.

Description

The fawn antechinus is unique among antechinuses, being considerably paler than many of its relatives. It is a light grey colour and is distinguished from the only other similar species in the area where it lives (the sandstone dibbler and the red-cheeked dunnart) by its larger size and paler colouring. It is insectivorous and, like many of its relatives, all of the males die after the breeding season.^[5]

The fawn antechinus has a breeding season during August. Young are born in September–October in litters of up to ten, and are usually weaned by January.^[5]

Distribution and habitat

The fawn antechinus is found in the Top End of the Northern Territory, where it was once fairly common.^[4] It inhabits tall, fairly open forest in the tropics. Populations have declined substantially since European colonisation, with one study in the Northern Territory finding a 20% reduction in the extent of occurrence of and a 45% reduction in the breadth of occupied environmental space.^[6]

In Aboriginal language and culture

The Kunwinjku people of western Arnhem Land call this animal mulbbu, as they do many small marsupials and rodents.^[7][8][9]

References

1. Groves, C. P. (2005). Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M. (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 29. ISBN 0-801-88221-4. OCLC 62265494.
2. "IUCN World Conservation congress, 2016". Archived from the original on 8 September 2016. Retrieved 9 September 2016.
3. Kristofer M. Helgen; Roberto Portela Miguez; James Kohen; Lauren Helgen (2012). "Twentieth century occurrence of the Long-Beaked Echidna Zaglossus bruijnii in the Kimberley region of Australia". ZooKeys (255): 103–132. doi:10.3897/zookeys.255.3774. PMC 3560862. PMID 23459668.
4. Calaby, J.H. (1995). "Fawn Antechinus". In Strahan, Ronald (ed.). The Mammals of Australia. Reed Books. pp. 85–86.
5. Menkhorst, Peter (2001). A Field Guide to the Mammals of Australia. Oxford University Press. p. 54.
6. von Takach, Brenton; Scheele, Ben C.; Moore, Harry; Murphy, Brett P.; Banks, Sam C. (2020). "Patterns of niche contraction identify vital refuge areas for declining mammals". Diversity and Distributions. 26 (11): 1467–1482. doi:10.1111/ddi.13145. hdl:1885/286535. ISSN 1366-9516.
7. Garde, Murray. "mulbbu". Bininj Kunwok Online Dictionary. Bininj Kunwok Regional Language Centre. Retrieved 31 October 2021.
8. Goodfellow, D. (1993). Fauna of Kakadu and the Top End. Wakefield Press. p. 21. ISBN 1862543062.
9. "Various Rock Dwelling Dasyurids". Bininj Kunwok Names for Plants and Animals. Bininj Kunwok Language Project. Retrieved 31 October 2021.