Bettongia anhydra (Desert Bettong)

[surroundx]

"Comments
Ref. Ken Aplin (pers. com.) He is to resurrect the species shortly."

Source:

www1.data.antarctica.gov.au/aadc/biodiversity/taxon_profile.cfm?taxon_id=64791

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"Many of these species left almost no trace: for example, the now-extinct desert bettong, Bettongia anhydra, is known from only a single specimen collected in 1933 (35)..."

Source:

www.pnas.org/content/early/2015/02/03/1417301112.full.pdf+html

[surroundx]

Original description:

Finlayson, Hedley Herbert. (1957). Preliminary description of two new forms of Bettongia (Marsupialia). Annals And Magazine of Natural History 10: 552-554. [Abstract]

[surroundx]

Morphological and molecular evidence supports specific recognition of the recently extinct Bettongia anhydra (Marsupialia: Macropodidae)

In 1933, geologist and explorer Michael Terry collected the skull of a small macropodid captured by members of
his party near Lake Mackay, western Northern Territory. In 1957, this skull was described as the sole exemplar
of a distinct subspecies, Bettongia penicillata anhydra, but was later synonymized with B. lesueur and thereafter
all but forgotten. We use a combination of craniodental morphology and ancient mitochondrial DNA to confirm
that the Lake Mackay specimen is taxonomically distinct from all other species of Bettongia and recognize an
additional specimen from a Western Australian Holocene fossil accumulation. B. anhydra is morphologically
and genetically most similar to B. lesueur but differs in premolar shape, rostrum length, dentary proportions,
and molar size gradient. In addition, it has a substantial mitochondrial cytochrome b pairwise distance of
9.6–12% relative to all other bettongs. The elevation of this recently extinct bettong to species status indicates
that Australia’s mammal extinction record over the past 2 centuries is even worse than currently accepted. Like
other bettongs, B. anhydra probably excavated much of its food and may have performed valuable ecological
services that improved soil structure and water infiltration and retention, as well as playing an important role in
the dispersal of seeds and mycorrhizal fungal spores. All extant species of Bettongia have experienced extensive
range contractions since European colonization and some now persist only on island refugia. The near total loss
of these ecosystem engineers from the Australian landscape has far-reaching ecological implications.

Source:

McDowell, Matthew C., Haouchar, Dalal, Aplin, Ken P., Bunce, Michael, Baynes, Alexander and Prideaux, Gavin J. (2015). Morphological and molecular evidence supports specific recognition of the recently extinct Bettongia anhydra (Marsupialia: Macropodidae). Journal of Mammalogy 96(2): 287-296.

[Peter]

Taxonomy

Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family
Animalia Chordata Mammalia Diprotodontia Potoroidae

Scientific Name: Bettongia anhydra
Species Authority: Finlayson, 1957
Common Name(s):
English – Desert Bettong
Synonym(s):
Bettongia penicillata ssp. anhydra Finlayson, 1957
Taxonomic Source(s): McDowell, M.C., Haouchar, D., Aplin, K.P., Bunce, M., Baynes, A. and Prideaux, G.J. 2015. Morphological and molecular evidence supports specific recognition of the recently extinct Bettongia anhydra (Marsupialia: Macropodidae). Journal of Mammalogy 96(2): 287-296.
Taxonomic Notes: Originally described as a subspecies of B. penicillata (Finlayson 1957), the Desert Bettong has only recently been recognized as a full species (McDowell et al. 2015). Finlayson (1958) provided a more detailed description of the skull and speculated that it represented a full species. However, Wakefield (1967) later synonymised anhydra with B. lesueur, based on his opinion that several features of the skull were similar to B. lesueur, although he noted that ‘the skull is very small’ (Wakefield 1967, p. 11). The Desert Bettong can be separated from the Woylie B. penicillata and the Boodie B. lesueur by several skull and dentition characters (McDowell 2013). Ancient DNA (aDNA) analysis of the Cytochrome b gene from the holotype shows it is a well-supported lineage, distinct enough from its closest relatives B. penicillata and B. lesueur to consider it a separate species (McDowell et al. 2015).

Assessment Information

Red List Category & Criteria: Extinct ver 3.1
Year Published: 2016
Date Assessed: 2014-03-17
Assessor(s): Burbidge, A.A. & Zichy-Woinarski, J.
Reviewer(s): Johnson, C.N. & Hawkins, C.
Contributor(s): Haouchar, D. & McDowell, M.
Justification:
The Desert Bettong is known from a single modern specimen, collected in 1933 and has not been recorded alive since then, despite extensive surveys. The date of extinction is unknown, but was possibly in the 1950s or 1960s as Woylie Bettongia penicillata and Boodie B. lesueur survived in the Tanami Desert until c. 1960 (Burbidge et al. 1988).

Geographic Range

Range Description: The single modern specimen, a damaged skull, was collected in 1933 from a freshly-dead animal by the explorer Michael Terry near the McEwin Hills, east of Lake Mackay in the Tanami Desert, Northern Territory. Subfossil material of this species is known from Stegamite Cave, southern Nullarbor Plain, Western Australia (McDowell et al. 2015). As these localities are widely separated, it may once have had a relatively wide distribution. Burbidge et al. (1988) did not record any Aboriginal oral history that may show indigenous knowledge of a third species of Bettongia in the central and western deserts; however, they did not ask people about a third species, as the Desert Bettong was not known to be a separate species at the time. If the Desert Bettong's pelage and behaviour was similar to the Boodie's, the two species may not have been differentiated.
Countries occurrence:
Regionally extinct:
Australia (Northern Territory, Western Australia)
Additional data:
♦ Estimated area of occupancy (AOO) - km2: 0
♦ Number of Locations: 0

Population

Population: It is not known how abundant this species was before its extinction. The species has not been recorded alive since 1933, despite extensive surveys.
Additional data:
♦ Number of mature individuals: 0

Habitat and Ecology

Habitat and Ecology: Nothing is known about what habitat this species occurred in or about its ecology. The Tanami Desert is mostly a dry hummock grassland with scattered shrubs and this was possibly the habitat of this species. However, the Western Australian record from near Morawa suggests a wider array of habitats. Interpretation of the skull and dentition of the Desert Bettong suggests that coarse browse material was a substantial proportion of its diet (McDowell et al. 2015).
Systems: Terrestrial
Generation Length (years): 3

Threats

Major Threat(s): The Desert Bettong was probably driven to extinction because of predation by introduced Red Foxes and feral domestic cats, perhaps combined with inappropriate fire regimes.

There is strong evidence for decline and extinction of critical weight range mammals due to predation by Red Foxes (Vulpes vulpes); Short (1998) documented a close correlation between the extinction of bettongs in New South Wales and the arrival of the Red Fox.

There is strong evidence for decline and extinction of desert critical weight range mammals due to predation by feral domestic cats; attempts to reintroduce Boodies B. lesueur to mainland areas where Red Foxes were controlled failed because of predation by feral cats (Christensen and Burrows 1994).

When Aboriginal people moved to settlements, fire regimes in the western deserts changed from mostly small fires resulting in a mosaic of fire ages to one of infrequent, very large summer fires (Latz 1995), with consequences for food availability and habitat suitability demonstrated for small desert macropods (Bolton and Latz 1978).

Conservation Actions

Conservation Actions: The species was not included in any State or Territory legislation and it is not known if it formerly occurred in any protected areas.

Bibliography

Bolton, B.L. and Latz, P.K. 1978. The western hare-wallaby Lagorchestes hirsutus (Gould) (Macropodidae) in the Tanami Desert. Australian Wildlife Research 5: 285-293.
Burbidge, A.A., Johnson, K.A., Fuller, P.J. and Southgate, R.I. 1988. Aboriginal knowledge of the mammals of the central deserts of Australia. Australian Wildlife Research 15: 9-39.
Christensen, P. and Burrows, N.L. 1994. Project desert dreaming: the re introduction of mammals to the Gibson Desert, Western Australia. In: M. Serena (ed.), Reintroduction biology of Australian and New Zealand fauna, pp. 190-207. Surrey Beatty and Sons, Chipping Norton.
Finlayson, H.H. 1957. Preliminary description of two new forms of Bettongia (Marsupialia). Annals and Magazine of Natural History 10(12): 552-554.
Finlayson, H.H. 1958. On central Australian mammals (with notice of species from adjacent tracts). Part III. The Potorinae. Records of the South Australian Museum 13: 235-302.
IUCN. 2016. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2016-2. Available at: www.iucnredlist.org. (Accessed: 04 September 2016).
Latz, P. 1995. Bushfires and bushtucker, Aboriginal plant use in Central Australia. IAD Press, Alice Springs.
McDowell, M.C. 2013. Late Quaternary faunal responses to environmental change and isolation on a large Australian land-bridge island. Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, Flinders University, Adelaide.
McDowell, M.C., Haouchar, D., Aplin, K.P., Bunce, M., Baynes, A. and Prideaux, G.J. 2015. Morphological and molecular evidence supports specific recognition of the recently extinct Bettongia anhydra (Marsupialia: Macropodidae). Journal of Mammalogy 96(2): 287-296.
Short, J. 1998. The extinction of rat-kangaroos (Marsupialia: Potoroidae) in New South Wales, Australia. Biological Conservation 86: 365-377.
Wakefield, N.A. 1967. Some taxonomic revision in the Australian marsupial genus Bettongia (Macropodidae), with description of a new species. Victorian Naturalist 84: 8-22.

Citation: Burbidge, A.A. & Zichy-Woinarski, J. 2016. Bettongia anhydra. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T71510353A71510399. dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-2.RLTS.T71510353A71510399.en. Downloaded on 17 December 2016.
www.iucnredlist.org/details/full/71510353/0