Northern nail-tail wallaby

Northern nail-tail wallaby[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Infraclass: Marsupialia
Order: Diprotodontia
Family: Macropodidae
Genus: Onychogalea
Species: O. unguifera
Binomial name
Onychogalea unguifera
(Gould, 1841)
The distribution of the northern nail-tail wallaby
Data from The Atlas of Living Australia

The northern nail-tail wallaby (Onychogalea unguifera) also known as the sandy nail-tail wallaby, is a species of macropod found in Queensland, Western Australia and Northern Territory. Unlike the bridled nail-tail wallaby (O. fraenata), the northern nail-tail wallaby is not a threatened species.[2] The only other member of the genus, the crescent nail-tail wallaby (O. lunata), is extinct.

The northern nail-tail wallaby by far the largest species in the genus Onychogalea. It is a solitary, nocturnal browser feeding on a variety of foliage. It is a sandy colour, which gave rise to its other common name.[3]

Two subspecies have been defined, but their validity is disputed.

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. 66. OCLC 62265494. ISBN 0-801-88221-4.
  2. 1 2 Woinarski, J., Winter, J. & Burbidge, A. (2008). Onychogalea unguifera. In: IUCN 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Retrieved 28 December 2008.
  3. Menkhorst, Peter (2001). A Field Guide to the Mammals of Australia. Oxford University Press. p. 124.
  4. Gordon, G. (1981). Northern Nailtail Wallaby in The Complete Book of Australian Mammals (ed. Ronald Strahan). Angus & Robertson. p. 204.

External links


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, February 05, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.