Quoll
Quolls (genus Dasyurus) are carnivorous marsupials native to Australia and Papua New Guinea.[1] There are six species of quoll, four in Australia and two in New Guinea.
| Quoll | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Eastern quoll (Dasyurus viverrinus) | |
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| Subfamily: | Dasyurinae |
| Tribe: | Dasyurini |
| Genus: | Dasyurus É. Geoffroy, 1796 |
The name dasyurus means "hairy tail".[2] Adults are between 25 and 75 cm long, with hairy tails about 20-35 cm long (about the size of a cat). Like all marsupials, females have a pouch to carry their babies.
Quolls are threatened by eating toxic cane toads, but a University of Sydney project is teaching them not to eat the toads.[3]
The family Dasyurini to which quolls belong also includes the Tasmanian devil, antechinuses, the kowari, and mulgaras.[1]
Quoll species
In the genus Dasyurus, these species exist:[1]
- New Guinean quoll, Dasyurus albopunctatus, New Guinea
- Western quoll or Chuditch, Dasyurus geoffroii, western Australia
- Northern quoll, Dasyurus hallucatus, northern Australia
- Tiger quoll or Spotted quoll, Dasyurus maculatus, eastern Australia
- Bronze quoll, Dasyurus spartacus, New Guinea
- Eastern quoll, Dasyurus viverrinus, Tasmania (formerly mainland eastern Australia)[4]
There is at least one fossil species from the Pliocene, that is D. dunmalli.[5]
References
