numbat

(Myrmecobiidae)

Class: Mammalia

Order: Dasyuomorphia

Family: Myrmecobiidae

Thumbnail description
Medium-sized reddish brown specialized termite-feeder with five to six striking white stripes across lower back, and a very long tail with long, erect hairs; long, thin tongue can protrude well beyond end of snout

Size
7.9–10.8 in (200–274 mm); 0.66–1.5 lb (0.3–0.7 kg)

Number of genera, species
1 genus; 1 species

Habitat
Forest, woodland, and spinifex

Conservation status
Vulnerable

Distribution
Extreme southwestern Australia; formerly broad band across western, southern half of Australia

Evolution and systematics

The evolutionary history of this family is poorly known. There is only one known species, the living numbat (Myrmecobius fasciatus), which is represented in a few Pleistocene cave deposits in Western Australia and western New South Wales. Myrmecobiids appear to be a sister group of a combined thylacinid-dasyurid group within the Dasyuromorphia.

The taxonomy for this species is Myrmecobius fasciatus (Waterhouse, 1836), Mt. Kokeby, Western Australia, Australia.

Physical characteristics

Numbats are one of the more beautiful and strikingly marked Australian mammals. Morphologically similar to the dasyurids, they are quadrupedal, place the heel of the hind foot on the ground when standing, and the snout is elongated and sharply pointed. Unique features of numbats include a very long tail, almost equal to the head and body length, and ears that are furred, erect, and quite narrow. Numbats also have more teeth than dasyurids; with five structurally simple molar teeth lacking defined cusps. Males and females are a similar size (1–1.1 lb; 0.45–0.5 kg). The medium-length soft fur is reddish brown in color, darker towards the rump and paler below, with five to six transverse white stripes across the lower back and a white-bordered black stripe running from the snout to the base of the ear. Tail hairs are long and often erect. The female has four teats surrounded by crimped hair on the lower abdomen but there is no visible pouch. The very long, thin tongue can protrude several inches/centimeters beyond the end of the snout when feeding.

Distribution

At the time of European settlement (late eighteenth century to early nineteenth century), numbats were distributed in a broad band across the southern half of central and Western Australia, the eastern and northern limits of their range represented by western New South Wales and southwestern Northern Territory, respectively. By 1985, numbats had disappeared from all but two small locations in the southwest of Western Australia. A program of feral red fox (Vulpes vulpes) control, reintroduction, and translocations has resulted in nine wild and two free-ranging fenced populations.

Habitat

The key to numbat presence is an abundance of termites, their primary food. The second prerequisite seems to be adequate ground-level cover, in the form of thickets of dense vegetation or hollow logs, which provides a refuge from predators. Primary predators would have been diurnal raptors, but foxes are now the major force driving extinction of populations. Hollow logs, which provide complete protection from larger predators, are probably more important in the presence of foxes. Numbats formerly occupied a variety of vegetation types, from open forest to woodland to hummock grasslands in the arid zone, although most sites had eucalypt trees.

Behavior

The numbat stands out among Australian mammals in being exclusively diurnal, probably as a consequence of their termite diet. Seasonal patterns in daily activity correspond closely to the abundance of termites in galleries close to the surface. Numbats are active in the warmer parts of the day, from midmorning until late afternoon, except in the hottest part of summer, when they divide their activity into two periods: dawn until midday and then late afternoon. When not active, numbats sleep in hollow logs or trees, or underground burrows that they have dug themselves. They make a nest in a den with grass or shredded bark, and they regularly use more than one den. Numbats are solitary except when females are rearing young and occupy home ranges from which other individuals of the same sex are excluded. Young disperse in December and have been recorded moving in excess of 9 mi (15 km).

Feeding ecology and diet

Numbats are highly specialized with a diet that consists almost entirely of termites, although some ants are taken incidentally. Numbats sniff out underground termite galleries and expose termites by digging small holes and turning over sticks and branches. They have extremely sharp claws that they use for digging but the forelimbs are not especially strong. The long, slender tongue is inserted deep into the winding termite galleries and withdrawn rapidly, insects adhering to saliva on the tongue. Numbats have very large salivary glands to supply the prodigious quantities of saliva required for this mode of feeding. The molar teeth are simple in structure with three almost equal cusps and the number can vary in individuals, and also from side to side in the same individual, suggesting that the molars receive light use. Unlike other mammalian anteaters, numbats show no obvious specializations for termite-eating in the stomach.

Reproductive biology

Breeding is probably promiscuous and is seasonal with most young born in summer, after a 14-day gestation. Males as well as females show an annual cycle of fertility. The female usually carries the full complement of four young that, in the absence of a pouch, maintain attachment orally and by entwining the forelimbs in the crimped fur of the mammary region. Development is slow and young are carried for six to seven months, after which they are deposited in a nest. At this stage they are furred with visible stripes, but their eyes are not yet open. The young are suckled for another three months, until at least late October. During this time they gradually explore and forage within their mother's home range. The female may move them to another nest, particularly in response to disturbance, and does so by carrying small young on her back.

Conservation status

The decline of the numbat, from its formerly wide distribution at the time of European settlement, is documented. Populations disappeared gradually in an east-west progression, with the expansion in range of introduced foxes. The rate of disappearance accelerated after 1920 when fox populations suddenly exploded. By the 1960s, numbats persisted in only two locations: the Gibson Desert and the southwest of Western Australia. The desert population disappeared first, leaving only two populations to the southwest of Perth by 1985.

An experimental fox control program, initiated in the early 1980s, demonstrated that numbat populations increased when fox populations were suppressed by monthly poison baiting. Fox predation was confirmed as the primary factor in the decline of numbats. Since 1985, there has been a successful recovery program involving translocation of wild individuals, supplemented with the reintroduction of captive-bred numbats to suitable habitat in nature reserves within their former southwestern range. This program, combined with regular fox baiting, has increased wild populations to nine localities. An additional two populations live within large, fenced reserves in South Australia and New South Wales. Rates of increase in translocated populations vary with the levels of predation by (native) raptors, residual levels of foxes and feral cats, dispersal opportunities, and habitat type that are related to food supply. Numbats probably never occurred in high density, even though they were widespread. Populations in which wide dispersal is limited by fencing or surrounding farmland increase more rapidly. In 1994, numbats were upgraded from an Endangered listing to Vulnerable under IUCN Red List criteria.

Significance to humans

Numbat is an aboriginal name from South Australia. Central Australian aboriginal peoples knew the animal as "walpurti" and hunted it to eat. Individuals were tracked to burrows where they were dug up. No commercial exploitation of numbats is recorded, but up to 200 have been collected for museum specimens.

Resources

Archer, M., T. Flannery, S. Hand, and J. Long. Prehistoric Mammals of Australia and New Guinea: One Hundred Million Years of Evolution. Sydney: UNSW Press, 2002.

Friend, J. A. "Myrmecobiidae." In Fauna of Australia. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service, 1989.

Friend, J. A., and N. D. Thomas. "Conservation of the Numbat (Myrmecobius fasciatus)." In Predators with Pouches: The Biology of Carnivorous Marsupials, edited by M. E. Jones, C. R. Dickman, and M. Archer. Melbourne: CSIRO Publishing, 2003.

Krajewski, C., and M. Westerman. "Molecular Systematics of Dasyuromorphia." In Predators with Pouches: The Biology of Carnivorous Marsupials, edited by M. E. Jones, C. R. Dickman, and M. Archer. Melbourne: CSIRO Publishing, 2003.

Strahan, R. The Mammals of Australia. Sydney: Australian Museum, Reed Books, 1995.

[Article by: Menna Jones, PhD]

The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: small Australian marsupial having long snout and strong claws for feeding on termites; nearly extinct
  Synonyms: banded anteater, anteater, Myrmecobius fasciatus

Numbat
Conservation status
Endangered (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Infraclass:	Marsupialia
Order:	Dasyuromorphia
Family:	Myrmecobiidae Waterhouse, 1841
Genus:	Myrmecobius
Species:	M. fasciatus
Binomial name
Myrmecobius fasciatus Waterhouse, 1836
Subspecies
M. f. fasciatus M. f. rufus

Numbat, the species Myrmecobius fasciatus, is a marsupial found in Western Australia. Its diet consists almost exclusively of termites. Once widespread across southern Australia, the range is now restricted to several small colonies and it is listed as an endangered species. The Numbat is an emblem of Western Australia and protected by conservation programs.

Contents 1 Description 2 Reproduction 3 Diet 4 Ecology and behaviour 5 Conservation status 6 Discovery 7 References 8 External links

Description

The Numbat, genus Myrmecobius, is the sole member of the family Myrmecobiidae; one of the three families that make up the order Dasyuromorphia, the generalised marsupial carnivores. The species is also known as the Walpurti, another common name is Banded Anteater.

The Numbat is a small, colourful creature between 35 and 45 cm (13-18") long, with a finely pointed muzzle and a prominent, bushy tail about the same length as its body. Colour varies considerably, from soft grey to reddish-brown, often with an area of brick red on the upper back, and always with a conspicuous black stripe running from the tip of the muzzle through the eyes to the bases of the small, round-tipped ears. The underside is cream or light grey; weight varies between 280 and 550 grams.^[2]

Unlike most other marsupials, the Numbat is diurnal, largely because of the constraints of having a specialised diet without having the usual physical equipment for it. Most ecosystems with a generous supply of termites have a fairly large creature with a very long, thin, sticky tongue for penetrating termite colonies, and powerful forelimbs with heavy claws.^[3] Like other mammals that eat termites or ants, the numbat has a degenerate jaw with non-functional teeth, and is unable to chew. Nonetheless, numbats do have a similar dental formula to many other marsupials:

The species is not closely related to other extant marsupials, the current arrangement in the Dasyuromorphia order places its monotypic family with the diverse and carnivorous species of Dasyuridae. A closer affinity with the extinct Thylacine, contained in the same order, has been proposed.

Reproduction

Breeding takes place in high summer, all females coming into oestrus for a short period in January. Gestation takes about 14 days and four to six young are usually born, one for each teat. They remain on the teat until July, at which time the female leaves them in the burrow, returning to suckle them from time to time. By early September, the young begin to emerge from the nest for short periods each day, staying very close to the entrance when the mother departs, and playing together or basking in the spring sunshine for an hour or two before returning. Gradually, they venture further from the burrow: they are weaned by late October, sleeping away from their mother by late October, and in December they set off to establish a territory of their own.^[3]

Diet

Numbats are insectivores and eat an exclusive diet of termites. An adult Numbat requires up to 20,000 termites each day.^[4]

Ecology and behaviour

Adult Numbats are solitary and territorial; an individual of either sex establishes a territory of up to 1.5 square kilometres (370 acres)^[3] early in life, and defends it from others of the same sex. The animal generally remains within it from that time on; male and female territories overlap, and in the breeding season males will venture outside their normal home range to find mates.

While the numbat has relatively powerful claws for its size,^[3] it is not strong enough to get at termites inside the concrete-like mound, and so must wait until the termites are active. It uses a well-developed sense of smell to locate the shallow and unfortified underground galleries that termites construct between the nest and their feeding sites; these are usually only a short distance below the surface of the soil, and vulnerable to the Numbat's digging claws.

The Numbat synchronises its day with termite activity, which is temperature dependent: in winter it feeds from mid-morning to mid-afternoon; in summer it rises earlier, takes shelter during the heat of the day, and feeds again in the late afternoon. Despite one common name, ants are not a major component of their diet.

At night, the Numbat retreats to a nest, which can be in a hollow log or tree, or in a burrow, typically a narrow shaft one or two metres long which terminates in a spherical chamber lined with soft plant material: grass, leaves, flowers and shredded bark. The Numbat is able to block the opening of its nest, with the thick hide of its rump, to any predator able to access the burrow.^[5]

Conservation status

Trap set to monitor the wild population in the Dryandra Woodland

Until European colonisation, the Numbat was found across most of the area from the New South Wales and Victorian borders west to the Indian Ocean, and as far north as the southwest corner of the Northern Territory. It was at home in a wide range of woodland and semi-arid habitats. The deliberate release of the European Red Fox in the 19th century, however, wiped out the entire Numbat population in Victoria, NSW, South Australia and the Northern Territory, and almost in Western Australia as well. By the late 1970s, the entire population was well under 1,000 individuals, concentrated in two small areas not far from Perth, Dryandra and Perup.

The first record of the species described it as beautiful,^[6] its appeal saw it selected as the faunal emblem of the state of Western Australia and efforts to conserve it from extinction.^[5]

It appears that the reason these two small populations were able to survive is that both areas have many hollow logs that may serve as refuge from predators. Being diurnal, the Numbat is much more vulnerable to predation than most other marsupials of a similar size: its natural predators include the Little Eagle, Brown Goshawk, Collared Sparrowhawk and Carpet Python. When the Western Australia government instituted an experimental program of fox baiting at Dryandra (one of the two remaining sites), Numbat sightings increased by a factor of 40.

An intensive research and conservation program since 1980 has succeeded in increasing the Numbat population substantially, and reintroductions to fox-free areas have begun. Despite the encouraging degree of success so far, the Numbat remains at considerable risk of extinction and is classified as an endangered species.^[1]

Discovery

Richter's Myrmecobius fasciatus, 1845

The Numbat first became known to Europeans in 1831. It was discovered by an exploration party who were exploring the Avon Valley under the leadership of Robert Dale. George Fletcher Moore, who was a member of the expedition, recounted the discovery thus:

"Saw a beautiful animal; but, as it escaped into the hollow of a tree, could not ascertain whether it was a species of squirrel, weazel, or wild cat..."

and the following day

"chased another little animal, such as had escaped from us yesterday, into a hollow tree, where we captured it; from the length of its tongue, and other circumstances, we conjecture that it is an ant-eater—its colour yellowish, barred with black and white streaks across the hinder part of the back; its length about twelve inches."^[6]

The first classification of specimens was published by George Robert Waterhouse, describing the species in 1836 and the family in 1841. Myrmecobius fasciatus was included in the first part of John Gould's The Mammals of Australia, issued in 1845, with a plate by H. C. Richter illustrating the species.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Friend, T. & Burbidge, A. (2008). Myrmecobius fasciatus. In: IUCN 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 08 October 2008. Listed as Endangered(EN C1+2a(i) v3.1)
2. ^ Ellis, Eric (2003). "Myrmecobius fasciatus". http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Myrmecobius_fasciatus.html. Retrieved 2006-09-01. 
3. ^ ^{a b c d} Lee, A.K. (1984). Macdonald, D.. ed. The Encyclopedia of Mammals. New York: Facts on File. pp. 844. ISBN 0-87196-871-1. 
4. ^ http://www.perthzoo.wa.gov.au/en/Animals--Plants/Australia/Australian-Bushwalk/Numbat/
5. ^ ^{a b} "What is the fauna emblem of Western Australia?". NatureBase. Western Australia's Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC). http://www.naturebase.net/component/option,com_kb/page,articles/articleid,13/. Retrieved 2009-05-11. 
6. ^ ^{a b} Moore, George Fletcher (1884). Diary of ten years. London: M. Walbrook. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Myrmecobius

• ARKive - images and movies of the numbat (Myrmecobius fasciatus)
• Numbat Western Australia's Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) WebPage.
• Project Numbat - formed to create community awareness and increase involvement in the conservation of the numbat.

v • d • e Extant Dasyuromorphia species Kingdom Animalia · Phylum Chordata · Class Mammalia · Infraclass Marsupialia   Family Dasyuridae, subfamily Dasyurinae Dasyurini Dasycercus (Mulgaras) Brush-tailed Mulgara (D. blythi) · Crest-tailed Mulgara (D. cristicauda) Dasykaluta Little Red Kaluta (D. rosamondae) Dasyuroides Kowari (D. byrnei) Dasyurus (Quolls) New Guinean Quoll (D. albopunctatus) · Western Quoll (D. geoffroii) · Northern Quoll (D. hallucatus) · Tiger Quoll (D. maculatus) · Bronze Quoll (D. spartacus) · Eastern Quoll (D. viverrinus) Myoictis Three-striped Dasyure (M. melas) · Wallace's Dasyure (M. wallacii) Neophascogale Speckled Dasyure (N. lorentzi) Parantechinus Dibbler (P. apicalis) Phascolosorex (Marsupial shrews) Red-bellied Marsupial Shrew (P. doriae) · Narrow-striped Marsupial Shrew (P. dorsalis) Pseudantechinus (False antechinuses) Sandstone Dibbler (P. bilarni) · Fat-tailed False Antechinus (P. macdonnellensis) · Alexandria False Antechinus (P. mimulus) · Ningbing False Antechinus (P. ningbing) · Rory Cooper's False Antechinus (P. roryi) · Woolley's False Antechinus (P. woolleyae) Sarcophilus Tasmanian Devil (S. harrisii) Phascogalini Antechinus Tropical Antechinus (A. adustus) · Agile Antechinus (A. agilis) · Fawn Antechinus (A. bellus) · Yellow-footed Antechinus (A. flaviceps) · Atherton Antechinus (A. godmani) · Cinnamon Antechinus (A. leo) · Swamp Antechinus (A. minimus) · Brown Antechinus (A. stuartii) · Subtropical Antechinus (A. subtropicus) · Dusky Antechinus (A. swainsonii) Micromurexia Habbema Dasyure (A. habbema) Murexechinus Black-tailed Dasyure (M. melanurus) Murexia Short-furred Dasyure (M. longicaudata) Paramurexia Broad-striped Dasyure (P. rothschildi) Phascomurexia Long-nosed Dasyure (P. naso) Phascogale Red-tailed Phascogale (P. calura) · Brush-tailed Phascogale (P. tapoatafa)   Family Dasyuridae, subfamily Sminthopsinae Sminthopsini Antechinomys Kultarr (A. laniger) Ningaui Wongai Ningaui (N. ridei) · Pilbara Ningaui (N. timealeyi) · Southern Ningaui (N. yvonnae) Sminthopsis (Dunnarts) S. crassicaudata species-group: Fat-tailed Dunnart (S. crassicaudata) S. macroura species-group: Kakadu Dunnart (S. bindi) · Carpentarian Dunnart (S. butleri) · Julia Creek Dunnart (S. douglasi) · Stripe-faced Dunnart (S. macroura) · Red-cheeked Dunnart (S. virginiae) S. granulipes species-group: White-tailed Dunnart (S. granulipes) S. griseoventer species-group: Kangaroo Island Dunnart (S. aitkeni) · Boullanger Island Dunnart (S. boullangerensis) · Grey-bellied Dunnart (S. griseoventer) S. longicaudata species-group: Long-tailed Dunnart (S. longicaudata) S. murina species-group: Chestnut Dunnart (S. archeri) · Little Long-tailed Dunnart (S. dolichura) · Sooty Dunnart (S. fulginosus) · Gilbert's Dunnart (S. gilberti) · White-footed Dunnart (S. leucopus) · Slender-tailed Dunnart (S. murina) S. psammophila species-group: Hairy-footed Dunnart (S. hirtipes) · Ooldea Dunnart (S. ooldea) · Sandhill Dunnart (S. psammophila) · Lesser Hairy-footed Dunnart (S. youngsoni) Planigalini Planigale Paucident Planigale (P. gilesi) · Long-tailed Planigale (P. ingrami) · Common Planigale (P. maculata) · New Guinean Planigale (P. novaeguineae) · Narrow-nosed Planigale (P. tenuirostris)   Family Myrmecobiidae Myrmecobius Numbat (M. fasciatus)

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