Researchers have confirmed a new-to-science species of marsupial in Australia’s Northern Territory. The tiny mouse-like carnivore has been named the Arnhem Plateau planigale (Planigale petrophila) after the area where it’s thought to live in; its scientific name translates to rock lover.
Planigales are the world’s smallest marsupials, some weighing just a couple of grams. Only seven species were recognized until recently: six from Australia, and one from the island of New Guinea.
Previous research has suggested that Planigale ingrami, one of the known Australian species, may actually consist of several different species. One such species, the cracking-clay Pilbara planigale (P. tealei) from Western Australia had earlier been misidentified as P. ingrami, but was formally described as a distinct species in 2023.
In the latest study, researchers examined specimens historically labelled as P. ingrami held across museums in Australia and collected DNA from more than 220 such specimens. They showed that planigales long classified as P. ingrami represent four distinct species, including the previously recognized P. tealei.
One of them is the Arnhem Plateau planigale, the largest of the four, with dark-gray fur and the longest tail. It’s currently known from just three specimens: two males and one female. All three were collected within 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) of each other on the plateau.
“P. petrophila is apparently rare among Australian planigales because, so far, only three specimens have ever been found, and it is known only from a small area of the sandstone plateau and rocky slopes in Kakadu National Park in western Arnhem Land,” Linette Umbrello, study lead author and research associate at the Western Australian Museum, said in a press release.
The rocky habitat of the Arnhem Plateau planigale is unusual. Most other planigale species “tend to live in swampy habitats, or areas with heavy clay soils,” Andrew M. Baker, study co-author and associate professor of ecology at Queensland University of Technology, wrote in The Conversation.
The researchers further confirmed that P. ingrami is a species in its own right. It’s the smallest of the planigales and has a smaller distribution across northern Australia than previously believed. The authors also suggest a new common name for P. ingrami: little planigale. It was previously called the long-tailed planigale, which they say is misleading since the species has a shorter tail than the Arnhem Plateau planigale.
Some museum specimens represent a third species, the Kimberley planigale (P. subtilissima), found throughout the Kimberly region of Western Australia and the western Northern Territory. “Unlike the Arnhem plateau planigale, Kimberley planigales have been detected frequently by Australian Wildlife Conservancy and partners on recent surveys, so there is less concern for their future,” Baker wrote.
The newly described Arnhem Plateau planigale was last recorded in 2004. Researchers say the species is likely difficult to survey, but that efforts to locate it “are of paramount importance to determine whether it persists in the region and to better understand its distribution.”
Banner image: Planigale petrophila. Image courtesy of Pat Woolley/Queensland University of Technology.
This story first appeared on Mongabay
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