Dasyuromorphia, from the Greek δασύς (dasús, “hairy, shaggy, dense”), οὐρά (ourá, “tail”) and μορφή (morphē “form, shape, appearance”), means “hairy tail”, in reference to the fact that these animals, in general, have long and furry tails.

Common names of members

Marsupial mice, quolls, numbats, Tasmanian devils, and Tasmanian tigers (recently extinct, in the 1930’s).

Distribution 

Australia, New Guinea, Tasmania, and some small nearby islands.

Size

Their size varies from marsupial mice (5 g) to numbats (500 g) and Tasmanian tigers (35 kg).

Morphology

They have a pointed head, small ears and fairly well-furred long tails, as short to medium-length legs. All of them, but numbats, have a marsupium, the pouch.

Tasmanian tigers were wolf-like animals and had long, canid-like limbs with digitigrade posture.

Ecology & Habitat

More open and arid environments (sclerophyll, xeric shrublands, grasslands). In the case of specific species that prefer closed environments (moist or temperate broadleaf forests), these tend to be humid and low temperature areas.

Diet

They have, generally, a carnivorous diet, feeding on bugs (termites, beetles), worms, small vertebrates, etc. Tasmanian tigers used to prey on small-medium size mammals and flightless birds.

Reproduction 

They are polygynandrous (both males and females mate with multiple individuals).

Some females can store sperm from different males within their reproductive tracts before ovulation. Thus, the young in the same litter may have different fathers. Only females take care of the young. The young first grow in the pouch then are carried into well-hidden dens.

Total species known

70

Species in the collection

3

Species in Hong Kong

0

References

- Pavey, C. R., Burwell, C. J., Körtner, G., Geiser, F. (2018). Trophic ecology of marsupial predators in arid Australia following reshaping of predator assemblages. Journal of Mammalogy, 99(5), 1128–1136. https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyy100. 

- Uzqueda, A., Burnett, S., Bertola, L. V., Hoskin, C. J. (2020). Quantifying range decline and remaining populations of the large marsupial carnivore of Australia’s tropical rainforest. Journal of Mammalogy, 101(4), 1021–1034. https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyaa077. 

- Westerman, M., Krajewski, C., Kear, B. P., Meehan, L., Meredith, R. W., Emerling, C. A., Springer, M. S. (2016) Phylogenetic relationships of dasyuromorphian marsupials revisited. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 176(3), 686–701. https://doi.org/10.1111/zoj.12323

- Kealy, S., Beck, R. (2017). Total evidence phylogeny and evolutionary timescale for Australian faunivorous marsupials (Dasyuromorphia). BMC Evolutionary Biology, 17, 240. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-017-1090-0. 

- Mitchell, K. J., Pratt, R. C., Watson, L. N., Gibb, G. C., Llamas, B., Kasper, M., Edson, J., Hopwood, B., Male, D., Armstrong, K. N., Meyer, M., Hofreiter, M., Austin, J., Donnellan, S. C., Lee, M. S. Y., Phillips, M. J., Cooper, A. (2014). Molecular Phylogeny, Biogeography, and Habitat Preference Evolution of Marsupials. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 31(9), 2322–2330. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msu176.

- Dickman, C. R. (2018). Biodiversity in Australia: An Overview. In T. Pullaiah (Ed.), Global Biodiversity - Volume 4: Selected Countries in the Americas and Australia. Apple Academic Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1201/9780429433634-12.

- Krajewski, C., Woolley, P. A., Westerman, M. (2000). The evolution of reproductive strategies in dasyurid marsupials: implications of molecular phylogeny. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 71(3), Pages 417–435, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8312.2000.tb01267.x.