Macrotis

Macrotis is a genus of desert-dwelling marsupial omnivores known as bilbies or rabbit-bandicoots;<ref name=MW>Template:MerriamWebsterDictionary Unabridged Template:Subscription required</ref> they are members of the order Peramelemorphia.

At the time of European colonisation of Australia, there were two species. The lesser bilby became extinct in the 1950s; the greater bilby survives but remains endangered. It is currently listed as a vulnerable species. The greater bilby is on average Template:Convert long, excluding the tail, which is usually around Template:Convert long. Its fur is usually grey or white; it has a long, pointy nose and very long ears, hence the reference of its nickname to rabbits.

File:(1)Bilby-5.jpg

Bilby at Featherdale Wildlife Park

Taxonomy

Macrotis means 'big-eared' ([[wikt:μακρός|Template:Transliteration]] + [[wikt:οὖς|Template:Transliteration]] 'ear') in Greek, referring to the animal's large, long ears.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The genus name was first proposed as a subgeneric classification, which after a century of taxonomic confusion was eventually stabilised as the accepted name in a 1932 revision by Ellis Troughton. In reviewing the systematic arrangement of the genus, Troughton recognised three species names, including one highly variable population with six subspecies.<ref name="Troughton1932" />

The family's current name Thylacomyidae is derived from an invalid synonym Thylacomys, meaning 'pouched mouse', from the Ancient Greek Template:Transliteration ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, 'pouch, sack') and Template:Transliteration ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, 'mouse, muscle'),<ref name=MW/> sometimes misspelt Thalacomys.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

The term bilby is a loanword from the Yuwaalaraay Aboriginal language of northern New South Wales, meaning long-nosed rat. It is known as dalgite in Western Australia, and in South Australia, pinkie is sometimes used.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The Wiradjuri of New South Wales also call it "bilby".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Gerard Krefft recorded the name Jacko used by the peoples of the lower Darling in 1864, emended to Jecko in 1866 along with Wuirrapur from the peoples at the lower Murray River.<ref name="Troughton1932">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Classification

Template:See also The placement of the population within taxonomic classification has changed in recent years. Vaughan (1978)Template:Full citation needed and Groves and Flannery (1990)Template:Full citation needed both placed this familyTemplate:Which within the family Peramelidae. Kirsch et al. (1997)Template:Full citation needed found them to be distinct from the species in Peroryctidae (which is now a subfamily in Peramelidae). McKenna and Bell (1997)Template:Full citation needed also placed it in Peramelidae, but as the sister of Chaeropus in the subfamily Chaeropodinae.<ref>Template:MSW3 Groves</ref>

Here is a summary of the treatment as a peramelemorph family:

• Thylacomyidae
  • Genus †Bulbadon Travouillon, Beck & Case 2021
    • ?†B. warburtonae Travouillon, Beck & Case 2021
  • Genus †Ischnodon Stirton 1955
    • †I. australis Stirton 1955<ref>Stirton, R.A., 1955. Late tertiary marsupials from South Australia. Records of the South Australian Museum 11, 247–268.</ref>
  • Genus †Liyamayi Travouillon et al. 2014
    • †L. dayi Travouillon et al. 2014<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
  • Genus Macrotis (Reid 1837)
    • M. lagotis (Reid 1837) Jentink 1887 (Greater bilby)
    • †M. leucura (Thomas 1887) Iredale & Troughton 1934 (Lesser bilby)

Description

Bilbies have the characteristic long bandicoot muzzle and very big ears that radiate heat. They are about Template:Convert long. Compared to bandicoots, they have a longer tail, bigger ears, and softer, silky fur. The size of their ears allows them to have better hearing.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> They are nocturnal omnivores that do not need to drink water, as they obtain their moisture from food, which includes insects and their larvae, seeds, spiders, bulbs, fruit, fungi, and very small animals. Most food is found by digging or scratching in the soil, and using their very long tongues.

Unlike bandicoots, they are excellent burrowers and build extensive tunnel systems with their strong forelimbs and well-developed claws. A bilby typically makes a number of burrows within its home range, up to about a dozen, and moves between them, using them for shelter both from predators and the heat of the day. The female bilby's pouch faces backwards, which prevents the pouch from getting filled with dirt while she is digging.

Bilbies have a gestation of about 12–14 days, one of the shortest among mammals.<ref name="EoM">Template:Cite book</ref>

The appearance of the bilby has been alluded to as "Australia’s answer to the Easter rabbit".<ref name="UQnews2014">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Conservation

Bilbies are slowly becoming endangered because of habitat loss and change, and competition with other animals. There is a national recovery plan being developed for saving them. This program includes captive breeding, monitoring populations, and reestablishing bilbies where they once lived. There have been reasonably successful moves to popularise the bilby as a native alternative to the Easter Bunny by selling chocolate Easter Bilbies (sometimes with a portion of the profits going to bilby protection and research). Reintroduction efforts have begun, with a successful reintroduction into the Arid Recovery Reserve in South Australia in 2000,<ref>Moseby K. E. and O'Donnell E. O. (2003) Reintroduction of the greater bilby, Macrotis lagotis (Reid) (Marsupialia: Thylacomyidae), to northern South Australia: survival, ecology and notes on reintroduction protocols Template:Webarchive Wildlife Research 30, 15–27.</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and a reintroduction into Currawinya National Park in Queensland, where six bilbies were released into a predator-proof enclosure in April 2019.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Successful reintroductions have also occurred on the Peron Peninsula in Western Australia as a part of<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> the Western Shield program, and at other conservation lands, including islands and the Australian Wildlife Conservancy's<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Scotia<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and Yookamurra Sanctuaries.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> There is a highly successful bilby breeding program at Kanyana Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> near Perth, Western Australia.

Evolution

The bilby lineage extends back 15 million years.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2014 scientists found part of a 15-million-year-old fossilised jaw of a bilby which had shorter teeth that were probably used for eating forest fruit. Prior to this discovery, the oldest bilby fossil on record was 5 million years old. Modern bilbies have evolved to have long teeth used to dig holes in the desert to eat worms and insects.

It is thought the bilby diverged from its closest relative, an originally-carnivorous bandicoot, 20 million years ago.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

See also

• Australian fauna
• Bilby (Film) Animated short made by DreamWorks Animation

External links

• ARKive – images and movies of the greater bilby (Macrotis lagotis)