Red-necked pademelon

The red-necked pademelon (Thylogale thetis) is a forest-dwelling marsupial living in the eastern coastal region of Australia.

Red-necked pademelon[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Infraclass: Marsupialia
Order: Diprotodontia
Family: Macropodidae
Genus: Thylogale
Species:
T. thetis
Binomial name
Thylogale thetis
(Lesson, 1828)
Red-necked pademelon range

Description
Red-necked pademelon in Lamington National Park, Queensland, Australia
Skull of a red-necked pademelon

A small species of macropod, it has a head and body length of 29–62 cm, a tail length of 27–51 cm and mean weight of 3.8 kg for females and 7.0 kg for males.[3] Mainly nocturnal, the red-necked pademelon is very shy and generally inhabits temperate forests near grassland, hiding in the forests by day and emerging into the grasslands to graze in the dusk.

The red-necked pademelon is brown-grey with a cream underbelly and a red-tinted neck and shoulders. It breeds in the autumn and spring in northern Australia, and in the summer in southern Australia. Predators include the dingo and the red fox, however habitat destruction, particularly through land clearance, is currently the largest threat to the species. The red-necked pademelon is not currently listed as an endangered species.

This species is closely related to the red-legged pademelon.

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. 70. ISBN 0-801-88221-4. OCLC 62265494.
  2. Ellis, M.; Denny, M.; Burnett, S. & Lunney, D. (2008). "Thylogale thetis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2008. Retrieved 29 December 2008.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  3. The Marsupial Society


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.