Bettongia

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Megaclassis: Osteichthyes
Cladus: Sarcopterygii
Cladus: Rhipidistia
Cladus: Tetrapodomorpha
Cladus: Eotetrapodiformes
Cladus: Elpistostegalia
Superclassis: Tetrapoda
Cladus: Reptiliomorpha
Cladus: Amniota
Cladus: Synapsida
Cladus: Eupelycosauria
Cladus: Sphenacodontia
Cladus: Sphenacodontoidea
Cladus: Therapsida
Cladus: Theriodontia
Subordo: Cynodontia
Infraordo: Eucynodontia
Cladus: Probainognathia
Cladus: Prozostrodontia
Cladus: Mammaliaformes
Classis: Mammalia
Subclassis: Trechnotheria
Infraclassis: Zatheria
Supercohors: Theria
Cohort: Metatheria
Cohors: Marsupialia
Cladus: Australidelphia
Cladus: Eomarsupialia
Ordo: Diprotodontia
Subordo: Macropodiformes

Familia: Potoroidae
Genus: Bettongia
Species (5): B. gaimardi - B. lesueur - B. penicillata - B. tropica - †B. pusilla

Name

Bettongia Gray, 1837

Type species: B. setosa Gray, 1837
References

McNamara, J.A. 1997: Some smaller macropod fossils of South Australia. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, 117: 97–105.
Bettongia in Mammal Species of the World.
Wilson, Don E. & Reeder, DeeAnn M. (Editors) 2005. Mammal Species of the World – A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. Third edition. ISBN 0-8018-8221-4.
Mag. Nat. Hist. [Charlesworth's], 1: 584.
Wilson, D.E. & Reeder, D.M. (eds.) 2005. Mammal Species of the World: a taxonomic and geographic reference. 3rd edition. The Johns Hopkins University Press: Baltimore. 2 volumes. 2142 pp. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. Reference page.

Vernacular names
English: bettong

Bettongs, species of the genus Bettongia, are potoroine marsupials once common in Australia. They are important ecosystem engineers displaced during the colonisation of the continent, and are vulnerable to threatening factors such as altered fire regimes, land clearing, pastoralism and introduced predatory species such as the fox and cat.
Conservation status

All species of the genus have been severely affected by ecological changes since the European settlement of Australia. Those that have not become extinct became largely confined to islands and protected reserves and are dependent on re-population programs. The diversity of the genus was poorly understood before their extirpation from the mainland, and new taxa have been identified in specimens newly discovered and already held in museum collections.[2] In 2021 August, 40 bettongs were released in different parts of South Australia after being raised in captivity to increase their numbers.[3]
Taxonomy

Four extant species are recognised in the work Mammal Species of the World (2005):[1]

Bettongia gaimardi, Eastern bettong, also known as the Tasmanian bettong
Bettongia lesueur Boodie
Bettongia penicillata Woylie
Bettongia tropica Wakefield, 1967.[4] Northern bettong

In addition, at least three extinct species are known:

Bettongia moyesi, Middle Miocene bettong from Riversleigh[5]
Bettongia pusilla, Nullarbor dwarf bettong, known only from subfossil remains, probably became extinct after colonisation
Bettongia anhydra, described in 2015 from a specimen collected in 1933 near Lake Mackay, Northern Territory.[2]

The phylogeny of the genus has seen a grouping of 'brush-tailed' taxa allied within the genus Bettongia, and this includes the extant species Bettongia gaimardi, B. tropica and B. penicillata.[2]

A conservative arrangement of modern and fossil taxa of Bettongia may be summarised as[6]

family Potoroidae:

subfamily †Bulungamayinae
subfamily †Palaeopotoroinae
subfamily Potoroinae

genus Aepyprymnus
genus Bettongia

species †Bettongia anhydra
species Bettongia gaimardi
species Bettongia lesueur
species †Bettongia moyesi
species Bettongia penicillata
species †Bettongia pusilla
species Bettongia tropica

genus †Milliyowi
genus †Caloprymnus
genus Potorous
genus †Purtia
genus †Wakiewakie
genus †Gumardee

The species Aepyprymnus rufescens is referred to as the rufous bettong,[7] despite not being a member of the genus Bettongia.
See also

Kangaroo rat - a heteromyid rodent of North America

References

Groves, C. P. (2005). Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M. (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 57–58. ISBN 0-801-88221-4. OCLC 62265494.
Prideaux, G.J.; Baynes, A.; Bunce, M.; Aplin, K.P.; Haouchar, D.; McDowell, M.C. (25 April 2015). "Morphological and molecular evidence supports specific recognition of the recently extinct Bettongia anhydra (Marsupialia: Macropodidae)". Journal of Mammalogy. 96 (2): 287–296. doi:10.1093/jmammal/gyv006. ISSN 0022-2372.
"Endangered bettongs return to SA after more than a century".
Wakefield, N.A. (1967). "Some taxonomie revision in the Australian marsupial genus Bettongia (Macropodidae), with description of a new species". The Victorian Naturalist. 84: 8–22.
Flannery, T.F. and Archer, M, 1987. Bettongia moyesi, a new and plesiomorphic kangaroo (Marsupialia: Potoridae) from Miocene sediments of northwestern Queensland. ‘Possums and Opossums: Studies in Evolution’, Pp.759–67. ed. M. Archer. Surrey Beatty & Sons and the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales, Sydney pdf
Claridge, A.W.; Seebeck, J.H.; Rose, R. (2007). Bettongs, potoroos, and the musky rat-kangaroo. Collingwood, Victoria: CSIRO Pub. p. 25. ISBN 9780643093416.
Menkhorst, P.W.; Knight, F. (2011). A field guide to the mammals of Australia (3rd ed.). Melbourne: Oxford University Press. p. 106. ISBN 9780195573954.