Family NOTORYCTIDAE

Museums

Regional Maps

Introduction

This endemic family of fossorial marsupials is represented by two named forms Notoryctes typhlops (Stirling, 1889) and Notoryctes caurinus Thomas, 1920. The external openings for the ears are buried beneath the fur and pinnae are absent. The eyes are represented only by vestigial remnants. The rostrum is covered by a shield of thickened skin and the nostrils are present as small slits. The tail is short, covered with skin in definite rings, and terminates in a small knob. The third and fourth manal digits bear greatly enlarged claws. The atlas and axis are unfused, but the next five cervical vertebrae are fused. The epipubic bones are greatly reduced.

These animals are insectivorous, apparently solitary, and seem confined to sand-shrub associations. Very little is known about these extraordinary small mammals and most observations have been the result of highly opportunistic captures.

The phylogenetic affinities of Notoryctes are, at present, an enigma. The specializations for fossorial life make comparative morphology of questionable use in understanding its relationships to other marsupials. The unique zalambdodont molars further confound the matter. Paleontology provides no clues. Recent studies using immunological, molecular and morphological evidence (Baverstock, 1984; Kirsch et al., 1997; Retief et al., 1995; Szalay, 1994) variously suggest affinities with the Dasyuridae, diprotodont taxa and even perameloids For the present, the family Notoryctidae remains the "dotted line family" in marsupial phylogenetic representations.

General References

Archer, M. 1984. The Australian marsupial radiation. pp. 633-808 in Archer, M. & Clayton, G. (eds). Vertebrate Zoogeography & Evolution in Australasia — Animals in Space & Time. Carlisle : Hesperian Press.

Baverstock, P.R. 1984. The molecular relationships of Australasian possums and gliders. pp. 1-8 in Smith, A. & Hume, I. (eds). Possums and Gliders. Sydney : Surrey Beatty & Sons, Australian Mammal Society 598 pp.

Johnson, K.A. & Walton, D.W. 1989. Notoryctidae. pp. 591-602 in Walton, D.W. & Richardson, B.J. (eds). Fauna of Australia. Mammalia. Canberra : Australian Government Publishing Service Vol. 1B 827 pp.

Kirsch, J.A.W., Lapointe, F-J. & Springer, M.S. 1997. DNA-hybridisation studies of marsupials and their implications for metatherian classification. Australian Journal of Zoology 45: 211-280

Retief, J.D., Krajewski, C., Westerman, M., Winkein, R.J. & Dixon, G.H. 1995. Molecular phylogeny and evolution of marsupial protamine P1 genes. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B 259: 7-14

Szalay, F.S. 1994. Evolutionary History of the Marsupials and an Analysis of Osteological Characters. New York : Cambridge University Press. [publication date established from Iredale, T. & Troughton, E. le G. 1934. A check-list of the mammals recorded from Australia. Mem. Aust. Mus. 6: i–xii 1–122]

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