Researchers from Curtin University, the Western Australian Museum, and Murdoch University confirmed a new marsupial species, Bettongia haoucharae, which has likely already gone extinct, and identified two new subspecies of the woylie (Bettongia penicillata ogilbyi). The findings appear in the New Zealand-based journal Zootaxa.
“Our results split the critically endangered woylie into two living subspecies, which is very important for conservation when we’re considering breeding and translocation initiatives to increase the size and fitness of populations,” said Jake Newman-Martin, the study’s lead author from Curtin University’s School of Molecular and Life Sciences. “In this new research, we’ve named a completely new species based on fossil material, and two new subspecies of woylies for the first time. Sadly, many of them have become extinct before we’ve even been aware of them,” said Newman-Martin, according to Phys.org.
The team studied fossils from the Nullarbor Plain and southwestern Australia and examined specimens from major museums in Australia and Britain. Researchers combined bone measurements with genetic analysis to reassess diversity and classification, drawing on fossil skull and body material that had not been examined in detail before.
“What we’ve found through this research tells us that examining fossils alongside genetic tools could offer significant insights that may help conservation efforts of this critically endangered native species,” said Kenny Travouillon, Curator of Terrestrial Zoology at the Western Australian Museum.
Woylies, also known as brush-tailed bettongs, are endemic to Western Australia and are classified as critically endangered. They are Australia’s most translocated mammal due to conservation efforts, and act as ecosystem engineers by turning over several tonnes of soil each year while foraging for fungi, which aids soil processes and forest regeneration.
The team said it planned to work with Indigenous people to identify an appropriate collaborative name; woylie derives from the Noongar language.
Written with the help of a news-analysis system.