Does the ‘extinct’ eastern quoll (Dasyurus viverrinus) persist in Barrington Tops, New South Wales?
Greta J. Frankham A , Sean Thompson B , Sandy Ingleby A , Todd Soderquist C and Mark D. B. Eldridge A DA Australian Museum Research Institute, Australian Museum, 1 William Street, Sydney, NSW 2010, Australia.
B NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, Office of Environment and Heritage, Gloucester, NSW 2422, Australia.
C Office of Environment and Heritage, North West Region, Armidale, NSW 2350, Australia.
D Corresponding author. Email: mark.eldridge@austmus.gov.au
Australian Mammalogy 39(2) 243-247 https://doi.org/10.1071/AM16029
Submitted: 20 June 2016 Accepted: 22 October 2016 Published: 25 November 2016
Abstract
The eastern quoll (Dasyurus viverrinus) is believed to be extinct on the Australian mainland, with the last confirmed record in 1963. Recently an eastern quoll specimen was located that had been found in northern Barrington Tops National Park (200 km north of Sydney) in 1989. Partial sequences (~200 bp) of the mitochondrial DNA gene Cytochrome b were obtained from the Barrington Tops specimen and compared with sequences from known mainland and Tasmanian eastern quolls. The genetic data, while limited, are most consistent with the Barrington Tops specimen being derived from the ‘extinct’ mainland eastern quoll population. This suggests that eastern quolls survived for decades longer on the Australian mainland than previously thought and raises the possibility that they may still persist in remote areas such as Barrington Tops.
Additional keywords: Australia, marsupial, mitochondrial DNA, dasyurid, extinction.
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