Loading AI tools
Genus of mammals (Sminthopsis; marsupials) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dunnart (from Noongar donat[1]) is a common name for species of the genus Sminthopsis, narrow-footed marsupials the size of a European mouse. They have a largely insectivorous diet.
Dunnart | |
---|---|
White-footed dunnart (Sminthopsis leucopus) | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Infraclass: | Marsupialia |
Order: | Dasyuromorphia |
Family: | Dasyuridae |
Subfamily: | Sminthopsinae |
Tribe: | Sminthopsini |
Genus: | Sminthopsis Thomas, 1887 |
Type species | |
Phascogale crassicaudata Gould, 1844 | |
Species | |
23, see text |
The genus name Sminthopsis was published by Oldfield Thomas in 1887, the author noting that the name Podabrus that had previously been used to describe the species was preoccupied as a genus of beetles.[2] The type species is Phascogale crassicaudata, published by John Gould in 1844.
There are 19 species,[note 1] all of them in Australia or New Guinea:[3]
The genus is referred to by their common name of dunnarts.
A male dunnart's Y chromosome is the smallest known mammalian Y chromosome.[4]
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.