Sminthopsis archeri Van Dyck 1986
Creators: name: Russell A. Mittermeier
name: Don E. Wilson
Publisher: name: Lynx Edicions
Year: 2015
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Mammalia
Dasyuromorphia
Dasyuridae
Sminthopsis
Sminthopsis archeri

description: 57.
Chestnut Dunnart
Sminthopsis archer
French: Dunnart dArcher / German: Archers SchmalfuRbeutelmaus / Spanish: Ratén marsupial castano
Taxonomy. Sminthopsis archeri Van Dyck, 1986,
Morehead (8° 04’ S, 141° 39’ E), Trans-Fly Plains, Papua New Guinea.
O. Thomas described the genus Sminthopsis in 1887. Almost 100 years later, in a major revision, M. Archer not only recognized twelve species of dunnart but also drew attention to several discrete populations and the fact that most recognized species exhibited geographical variation that might constitute different species.
Subsequent electrophoretic and direct DNA studies have supported his contention. Sminthopsis is the most speciose genus (currently 19 species) of living dasyurid marsupials and, along with its close relatives Antechinomys (one species) and Ningau: (three species), and Planigale (five species) constitutes the clade Sminthopsini. Phylogenetic relationships among species in the Sminthopsinae have been the subject of considerable morphological and molecular investigation. A recent genetic phylogeny (several mitochondrial and nuclear genes) failed to support monophyly of the genus Sminthopsis with respect to Antechinomys and Ningaui. There were three deeply divergent clades of Sminthopsis. In the first clade, S. longicaudata was sister to A. laniger (an alliance also obtained from previous morphological analyses where there was good reason to include Antechinomys within Sminthopsis and also to link it with S. longicaudata). The second clade was composed of the traditional morphologically based Macroura Group: five Sminthopsis formed a strongly supported clade, which included S. crassicaudata, S. bind, S. macroura, S. douglasi, and S. virginiae. This clade of five dunnarts was a poorly supported sister to the three species of Ningaui (N. rider, N. timealeyi, and N. yvonneae). This combined clade of the five Sminthopsis and three Ningaui was positioned as poorly supported sister to a well-supported clade containing the remainder of Sminthopsis species (13 species in the Murina Group). This large dunnart clade contained a wellsupported sister pairing of S. archeri with a clade containing five species: S. munna, S. gilberti, S. leucopus, S. butleri, and S. dolichura. During a 1973 mammal survey of southwestern Papua New Guinea, a number of dunnarts were collected from pitfall traps. A taxonomic reassessment of these animals by S. Van Dyck in 1986 resulted in their description as S. archer: (in honor of paleontologist and taxonomist M. Archer, who had done a considerable amount of taxonomic work on the genus) and led to the discovery that the species also occurred in northern Australia. Indeed,it had been collected as early as 1898 by A. S. Meek and anthropologist D. Thomson in 1933 from the lower Archer River on Cape York Peninsula. Later captures (in the early 1980s) were made from monsoon woodlands near Batavia Landing and Red Beach on north-western Cape York. Following the description of the new S. archer, four of the 13 specimens examined by Van Dyck were transferred to the Queensland Museum, Brisbane. The other nine were registered as S. archeri and held in the Papua New Guinea Museum. New Guinean and northern Queensland S. archeri shared dental and foot-pad features that distinguished them from S. butleri, a congener with which they had been lumped; however, the last documented capture of S. archeri on Cape York Peninsula occurred in 1993 when a single male was trapped at Iron Range National Park, Queensland. Subsequent targeted searches (Heathlands, Pennefather River, and north-western Cape York) have yielded zero captures. Then, incredibly, in March 2003, an individual was trapped at Blackbraes National Park, 200 km west of Townsville, Queensland, a staggering 1000 km south of the Cape York individuals. This represents a marked biogeographical shift to an upland, dry tropical biome and raised questions of whether or not distribution of S. archeri is naturally fragmented and widespread with naturally low abundance, or perhaps S. archeri is in need of further taxonomic investigation.
Monotypic.
Distribution. S New Guinea (Western Province in Papua New Guinea) and NE Australia (N Queensland), mostly near sea level.
Descriptive notes. Head—body 9.8-10.7 cm (males) and 8.3-8.5 cm (females), tail 9-2— 10-5 cm (males) and 8:2.9-7 cm (females); weight 12-16 g (females). There is sexual dimorphism for size. The Chestnut Dunnart is nondescript: thin-tailed and mediumsized. It has pale gray to tan-brown fur, prominent black eye rings, and a distinctive “Roman nose.”
Habitat. Mixed savanna grassland in New Guinea and tall stringybark eucalypt woodlands on red earth soils of the laterite-bauxite plateau from sea level to an elevation of 1000 m in Australia, where canopy species include Erythrophleum chlorostachys (Fabaceae) and Eucalyptus nesophylla (Myrtaceae), with understories of Parinari nonda (Chrysobalanaceae), Planchonia careya (Lecythidaceae), Grevillea parallela (Proteaceae), and Acacia rothii (Fabaceae); it is also found in more heath-type vegetation in Australia. A Chestnut Dunnart form Blackbraes National Park, Queensland, Australia, was caught in bloodwood and ironbark eucalypt woodland on granitic soils. Recent captures of at least three Chestnut Dunnarts in woodland at Brooklyn Station, near Mount Carbine, suggest it may be distributed continuously, albeit patchily, in suitable tropical savanna habitat from Townsville to Cape York.
Food and Feeding. There is no information available for this species.
Breeding. New Guinean records of Chestnut Dunnarts indicate that births occur in July—=October. Females have 6-8 teats. P. A. Woolley maintained one of two females collected at La Trobe University from 4 March 1994 to 26 May 1995. This female was considered to be ajuvenile when captured, with a body weight of ¢.8 g. Her pouch area had very thin lateral folds of skin in which eight nipples were arranged in a circle. Fur in pouch area was unstained. Cornified epithelial cells were first seen on 26 September 1994 when she had attained a body weight of 12 g. Cornified cells were seen in urine for 18 days, and her body weight peaked at 14 g near the end of this period. Duration of pseudopregnancy was 21 days, and her body weight reached 15 g before falling sharply. Pouch development occurred in the final six days of pseudopregnancy. As the female’s pouch became fully developed, skin folds extended anterio-laterally around the pouch area. The female entered estrus on three more occasions in November and December 1994 and January 1995; during these periods, body weight changes were similar to those in the first estrous period and pseudopregnancy. Estrous cycles were 31-36 days. This female did not return to estrus again until 26 May 1995. Atthis time, a thin, anterior, lateral fold ofskin and a tuft of yellowish stained fur marked pouch area; reproductive tract was in typical anestrous condition. These observations imply that the Chestnut Dunnart is seasonally polyestrous, with a breeding season in October-February. In Papua New Guinea, two females with hairless young in the pouch were collected in July and October. If, as in the Stripe-faced Dunnart (S. macroura), hairs first emerge on head at c.20 days of age when young have a crown-rump length of 10 mm, birth of the first Chestnut Dunnart female’s young most likely occurred in early July, and the second female gave birth in September. The only specimen of the Chestnut Dunnart taken in Australia and known with certainty to be juvenile was collected in October and estimated by Van Dyck to have been born in August. Taken together, these observations suggest that breeding commences earlier in the year in Papua New Guinea than in Australia and continues at least until September. Nevertheless, duration of breeding in Papua New Guinea is unknown because specimens have been collected there only from late July to late October. Male Chestnut Dunnarts assessed as mature were obtained in all these months, and at least one appeared to be in breeding condition in October, which may indicate that breeding could occurlater than September.
Activity patterns. There is no information available for this species.
Movements, Home range and Social organization. There is no information available for this species.
Status and Conservation. Classified as Data Deficient on The IUCN Red List. There are continuing uncertainties as to the extent of occurrence of the Chestnut Dunnart; information on its population status and threats are limited. In New Guinea,it is known only from 16 specimens collected at Morehead and Mibini and one specimen from Wipim. In Australia, it is known from 14 specimens collected from a number of different localities. Although there has been survey work, the Chestnut Dunnart is cryptic; the best survey methods may not have been used. Conservation threats are unknown, but it may be threatened by predation from introduced domestic cats and domestic dogs. The Chestnut Dunnart has been recorded from protected areas, but additional studies are required to clarify habitat needs, threats, and ecological requirements in Australia and New Guinea.
Bibliography. Archer (1981a), Baverstock et al. (1984), Blacket, Adams et al. (2001), Blacket, Cooper et al. (2006), Krajewski et al. (2012), Kutt (2008), Kutt et al. (2005), Thomas (1887, 1888b), Van Dyck (1986), Woolley (2007), Woolley, Helgen et al. (2008), Woolley, Westerman & Krajewski (2007).
description: Published as part of Russell A. Mittermeier & Don E. Wilson, 2015, Dasyuridae, pp. 232-348 in Handbook of the Mammals of the World – Volume 5 Monotremes and Marsupials, Barcelona :Lynx Edicions on pages 335-336, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.6608102