An Australian marsupial (Notoryctes typhlops); mole-like with pale yellow coat; eyes and ears hidden by fur; nose pad enlarged to cover front of head; large claws for digging; tail very short; female with pouch opening backwards; inhabits dry sandy areas; burrows collapse behind them as they dig. (Family: Notoryctidae.)
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iMarsupial moles Fossil range: Late Eocene - Recent (for its Order) |
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N. Marsupial moles provide a remarkable example of convergent evolution, with moles generally, and with the golden moles of Africa in particular. A 1989 review of the early literature, slightly paraphrased, states: When Stirling (1888) initially was unable to find the epipubic bones in Marsupial Moles, speculation was rife: the Marsupial Mole was a monotreme, it was the link between monotremes and marsupials, it had it closest affinities with the (placental) golden moles, it was convergent with edentates, it was a polyprotodont diprotodont, and so on.One suggestion advanced was that the Miocene marsupial mole used its limbs for swimming rather than burrowing, but the mainstream view is that it probably specialised in burrowing through a thick layer of moss, roots, and fallen leaf litter on the rainforest floor, and thus, when the continent began its long, slow desertification, the marsupial moles were already equipped with the basic tools that they now use to burrow in the sand dunes of the Western Australian desert. ClassificationThere are thought to be two species: the Southern Marsupial Mole (Notoryctes typhlops or itjaritjari as known by the Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara people in Central Australia , and the Northern Marsupial Mole (Notoryctes caurinus), so similar to one another that they cannot be reliably told apart in the field. |
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