Phascogale

Phascogale
	Brush-tailed phascogale (Phascogale tapoatafa)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Infraclass:	Marsupialia
Order:	Dasyuromorphia
Family:	Dasyuridae
Subfamily:	Dasyurinae
Tribe:	Phascogalini
Genus:	Phascogale; Temminck, 1824
Type species
	Didelphis penicillata; Shaw, 1800; (= Vivera tapoatafa, F. Meyer, 1793
Species
	See text

The phascogales (members of the eponymous genus Phascogale), also known as wambengers or mousesacks, are carnivorous Australian marsupials of the family Dasyuridae. There are three species: the brush-tailed phascogale (Phascogale tapoatafa), the red-tailed phascogale (P. calura), and the northern brush-tailed phascogale (P. pirata). As with a number of dasyurid species, the males live for only one year, dying after a period of frenzied mating. The term Phascogale was coined in 1824 by Coenraad Jacob Temminck in reference to the brush-tailed phascogale, and means "pouched weasel". All three species are listed as either Near Threatened or Vulnerable by the IUCN.

Phylogeny

The following is a phylogenetic tree based on mitochondrial genome sequences:[1]

Dasyuromorphia

Thylacinus (thylacine)

Myrmecobius (numbat)

Sminthopsis (dunnarts)

	Phascogale (wambengers)

	Dasyurus (quolls)

Species

Captive P. calura

The genus consists of the following three species:

Brush-tailed phascogale – Phascogale tapoatafa
Red-tailed phascogale – Phascogale calura
Northern brush-tailed phascogale – Phascogale pirata

Life cycle

Mating generally happens between May and July. All males die soon after mating. Females give birth to about 6 young ones about 30 days after mating. Phascogales do not have the true pouch that is found in most other marsupials . Instead, they form temporary folds of skin - sometimes called a "pseudo-pouch" around the mammary glands during pregnancy. Young stay in this pseudo-pouch area, nursing for about 7 weeks before being moved to a nest where they stay until they are weaned at about 20 weeks of age. Females live for about 3 years, and generally produce one litter.

References

Miller, W.; Drautz, D. I.; Janecka, J. E.; Lesk, A. M.; Ratan, A.; Tomsho, L. P.; Packard, M.; Zhang, Y.; McClellan, L. R.; Qi, J.; Zhao, F.; Gilbert, M. T. P.; Dalen, L.; Arsuaga, J. L.; Ericson, P. G.P.; Huson, D. H.; Helgen, K. M.; Murphy, W. J.; Gotherstrom, A.; Schuster, S. C. (February 2009). "The mitochondrial genome sequence of the Tasmanian tiger (Thylacinus cynocephalus)". Genome Res. 19 (2): 213–20. doi:10.1101/gr.082628.108. PMC 2652203. PMID 19139089.

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. pp. 31–32. ISBN 0-801-88221-4. OCLC 62265494.

External links

Brush-tailed Phascogale fact sheet: . Also:
Red-tailed Phascogale fact sheet: . Also:

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[GR1-1] Miller, W.; Drautz, D. I.; Janecka, J. E.; Lesk, A. M.; Ratan, A.; Tomsho, L. P.; Packard, M.; Zhang, Y.; McClellan, L. R.; Qi, J.; Zhao, F.; Gilbert, M. T. P.; Dalen, L.; Arsuaga, J. L.; Ericson, P. G.P.; Huson, D. H.; Helgen, K. M.; Murphy, W. J.; Gotherstrom, A.; Schuster, S. C. (February 2009). "The mitochondrial genome sequence of the Tasmanian tiger (Thylacinus cynocephalus)". Genome Res. 19 (2): 213–20. doi:10.1101/gr.082628.108. PMC 2652203. PMID 19139089.