Russell A. Mittermeier;Don E. Wilson
Potoroidae
Sign in to savePotoroidae is a family of marsupials, small Australian animals known as bettongs, potoroos, and rat-kangaroos. All are rabbit-sized, brown, jumping marsupials and resemble a large rodent or a very small wallaby.
Species
FAMILY
- KingdomAnimalia
- PhylumChordata
- ClassMammalia
- OrderDiprotodontia
- FamilyPotoroidae
via GBIF
Museum specimens
- Specimen records
- 2
- Family
- Potoroidae
- Collections
- UCMP, ROM
- Recorded in
- Australia, Unknown, Captive
Research
161 papers- A taxonomic revision of the Bettongia penicillata (Diprotodontia: Potoroidae) species complex and description of the subfossil species Bettongia haoucharae sp. nov.Zootaxa · 2025
- Losing Australia's native gardeners.Science (New York, N.Y.) · 2020
- Testing hypotheses of skull function with comparative finite element analysis: three methods reveal contrasting results.The Journal of experimental biology · 2025
- Identification of a novel species of Eimeria Schneider, 1875 from the woylie, Bettongia penicillata Gray (Diprotodontia: Potoroidae) and the genetic characterisation of three Eimeria spp. from other potoroid marsupials.Systematic parasitology · 2019
- A reference genome for the critically endangered woylie, Bettongia penicillata ogilbyi.GigaByte (Hong Kong, China) · 2021
via PubMed
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- taxon
- Parent taxon
- Macropodiformes
- Image
- Bettongia penicillata.jpg
Show 10 more facts
- Commons category
- Potoroidae
- taxon rank
- family
- taxon name
- Potoroidae
- Code of nomenclature
- International Code of Zoological Nomenclature
- topic's main category
- Category:Potoroids
- Commons gallery
- Potoroidae
- means of locomotion
- bipedalism
- endemic to
- Australia
- taxonomic type
- Potorous
- temporal range start
- Chattian
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~4 min read
Encyclopedic overview
6 sectionsContents
- Taxonomy
- Ecology
- Status
- Classification
- References
- External links
Potoroidae is a family of marsupials, small Australian animals known as bettongs, potoroos, and rat-kangaroos. All are rabbit-sized, brown, jumping marsupials and resemble a large rodent or a very small wallaby.
== Taxonomy == The potoroids are smaller relatives of the kangaroos and wallabies, and may be ancestral to that group. In particular, the teeth show a simpler pattern than in the kangaroo family, with longer upper incisors, larger canines, and four cusps on the molars. However, both groups possess a wide diastema between the incisors and the cheek teeth, and the potoroids have a similar dental formula to their larger relatives:
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Potoroidae” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.