Vertebrate fauna of Wallacea and surrounds
16 Vertebrate fauna: mammals
In the table below a number of the mammals of Indonesia, New Guinea and Australia is listed. This is not a complete listing, but rather a sampling of some of the more obvious, unique or characteristic animals from these areas.
Notice how amongst the mammals there are several clear patterns:
- Monotremes occur only in Australasia
- A large variety of placental mammals occur in Indonesia
- The mammals of Australia include various marsupials, but also bats and rodents
- Many of the groups that occur in Australia also occur in New Guinea
Mammals
|
||||||||
| Fauna of Indonesia | Fauna of New Guinea | Fauna of Australia | ||||||
| Nearly all are placental mammals; with the exception of the common spotted cuscus and two species of endemic cuscus on Sulawesi there are no marsupials in the Oriental region. | Various endemic species of marsupial and placental mammals inhabit New Guinea. | Approximately half the mammals of Australia are placentals (rodents and bats) and half are marsupials. The marsupials have undergone a major evolutionary radiation in Australia, and most species are endemic. | ||||||
| Note: Northern Australia and southern New Guinea share some species of mammals including dasyurids (carnivorous marsupials), bandicoots, the Agile Wallaby Macropus agilis, and some bats (e.g. flying foxes) and rodents. | ||||||||
| echidnas (two species) | platypus and echidna | |||||||
Primates
|
||||||||
Carnivora
|
||||||||
Dasyuromorphia
|
Dasyuromorphia
|
|||||||
Proboscidea
|
||||||||
Perissodactyla
|
||||||||
Artiodactyla
|
||||||||
Perameloidea
|
Perameloidea
|
|||||||
Diprotodonta
|
Diprotodonta
|
|||||||
Pholidota
|
||||||||
Insectivora
|
||||||||
Scandentia
|
||||||||
Rodentia
|
Rodentia
|
Rodentia
|
||||||
Chiroptera
|
Chiroptera
|
Chiroptera
|
Complete the following activity to check your knowledge.