Rediscovery of the scaly-tailed possum (Wyulda squamicaudata) in the eastern Kimberley
J. Sean Doody A B E , David Rhind C , Christina M. Castellano B and Michael Bass DA School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Vic. 3800, Australia.
B The Orianne Society, 579 Highway 441 South, Clayton, GA 30525, USA.
C Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population, and Communities, GPO Box 787, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.
D El Questro Wilderness Park, PO Box 909, Tourism House, Kununurra, WA 6743, Australia.
E Corresponding author. Email: jseandoody@gmail.com
Australian Mammalogy 34(2) 260-262 https://doi.org/10.1071/AM11039
Submitted: 7 October 2011 Accepted: 19 November 2011 Published: 20 January 2012
Abstract
The tropical mammal fauna of Australia is both understudied and, in some cases, imperiled, and the former hinders a complete understanding of the latter. An enigmatic and poorly understood species is the scaly-tailed possum (Wyulda squamicaudata), a species endemic to the Kimberley Region, Western Australia. We describe the rediscovery of the scaly-tailed possum in the east Kimberley, where it has not been recorded since 1917. The discovery: (1) reinforces the hitherto-questioned validity of the east Kimberley record; (2) confirms an extension of the range by 200–300 km to the east from populations in the west Kimberley; and thus (3) broadens the climate envelope occupied by the species. Implications of the known distribution for the biology, genetics and conservation of the scaly-tailed possum are briefly discussed.
Additional keywords: conservation, distribution, mammal, marsupial, Phalangeridae.
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