Order PERAMELEMORPHIA

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Order PERAMELEMORPHIA

Compiler and date details

October 2010 - Updated by Stephen M. Jackson, c/- Queensland Museum, Brisbane, following Van Dyck & Strahan (2008)

1999 - Updated by Barry J. Richardson, Centre for Biostructural and Biomolecular Research, University of Western Sydney, Hawkesbury, NSW, Australia

31 December 1998 - Data taken from J.A. Mahoney & W.D.L. Ride (1988)

Introduction

Representatives of Peramelidae occur throughout mainland Australia, Tasmania, several offshore islands and New Guinea. On the basis of an analysis of morphological characters, Grove & Flannery (1990) separated several New Guinea genera, including Echymipera, which is also found in Australia, from the remaining peramelids and placed them in a new family, the Peroryctidae. DNA hybridisation studies (Kirsch et al. 1997), however, whilst supporting the dichotomy, do not support separation at the family level. Consequently, previous usage has been maintained in this work.

In the bandicoots, hind limbs are longer than forelimbs and are syndactylous, the second and third digits being conjoined. There are five digits on the manus and four on the pes, except in Chaeropus which has four digits on the manus and three on the pes. The tail is hairy and non-prehensile. The hair forms a dorsal crest in some species. The rostrum of the skull is narrow and pointed. The incisor formula is 4/5 or 3. The marsupium is well developed and opens posteriorly.

Bandicoots are terrestrial and primarily nocturnal. Their diet, from what is known, consists largely of insects, but other invertebrates, fungi, and even small vertebrates are taken. Shallow burrows and surface nests are made. Peramelids are highly vulnerable to predation by introduced predators and to habitat modification.