Short-nosed bandicoot

Short-nosed bandicoots[1]
Southern brown bandicoot Isoodon obesulus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Infraclass:	Marsupialia
Order:	Peramelemorphia
Family:	Peramelidae
Subfamily:	Peramelinae
Genus:	Isoodon (Desmarest, 1817)
Type species
Didelphis obesula (Shaw, 1797)
Species
Isoodon auratus Isoodon macrourus Isoodon obesulus

The short-nosed bandicoots (genus Isoodon) are members of the order Peramelemorphia. These marsupials can be found across Australia, although their distribution can be patchy.^[2] Genetic evidence suggests that short-nosed bandicoots diverged from the related long-nosed species around eight million years ago, during the Miocene epoch, and underwent a rapid diversification around three million years ago, during the late Pliocene.^[3]

Species

There are three species in this genus:

• Golden bandicoot, Isoodon auratus
• Northern brown bandicoot, Isoodon macrourus
• Southern brown bandicoot, Isoodon obesulus

References

1. Groves, C.P. (2005). "Order Peramelemorphia". In Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M. Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 39. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
2. "Short-nosed Bandicoots" Atlas of Living Australia
3. Westerman, M. & Krajewski, C. (2000). "Molecular relationships of the Australian bandicoot genera Isoodon and Perameles (Marsupialia: Peramelina)". Australian Mammalogy. 22 (1): 1–8. doi:10.1071/AM00001.

External links

• ARKive - images and movies of the golden bandicoot (Isoodon auratus)