Regional mammals of NSW
New South Wales native mammals currently comprise approximately 101 terrestrial species (49 marsupials, 37 bats, 13 rodents and 2 monotremes) and 42 species of marine mammals (37 cetaceans, 7 seals and the Dugong). When European's arrived in Australia the diversity of mammals was much higher than it is today. There were around 24 additional species in the New South Wales. A number of 'medium-sized' mammal species such as small wallabies, bandicoots, carnivorous marsupials and native rodents have vanished from New South Wales in the past two hundred and twenty years. Fortunately 16 of these locally extinct species are present in other Australian states but eight are now extinct.
The Australian Museum's Mammal collection contains representatives of all but a few species known from New South Wales. There are over 12,500 individual specimen records. Among the most important specimens are those of extinct species that were collected when the animals were relatively common. These include little known species such as:
- White-footed Rabbit Rat (Conilurus albipes)
- Pig-footed Bandicoot (Chaeropus ecaudatus)
- Eastern Hare Wallaby (Lagorchestes leporides)
Other specimens in the collection are not commonly associated with New South Wales which were once an important part of the New South Wales fauna include:
- Bridled Nailtail Wallaby (Onychogalea fraenata)
- Tasmanian Bettong (Bettongia gaimardi)
- Burrowing Bettong (Bettongia leseur)
- Bilby (Macrotis lagotis)
- Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat (Lasiorhinus latifrons)
- Mitchell's Hopping Mouse (Notomys mitchelli)
- Eastern Quoll (Dasyurus viverrinus)
These species have now vanished as a result of environmental changes brought about by pastoralism, clearing, and the impact of feral animals such as cats and foxes.
Another important category of specimens in the New South Wales Mammal collection is the 'types'. Types are specimens on which the original description of a particular species is based. The Australian Museum holds over 60 type specimens from New South Wales representing 22 different taxa (species or subspecies). Some of the earliest type specimens from New South Wales in the Australian Museum Mammal collection include the specimens used in the description of Mitchell's Hopping Mouse by Ogilby in 1838 and a subspecies of Bilby described by Troughton in 1932. Recent additions to the New South Wales type collection include type specimens of the Agile Antechinus (Antechinus agilis) described by Dickman et al in 1998 and the Inland Forest Bat (Vespadelus baverstocki) described by Kitchener in 1987.
The New South Wales Mammal collection dates back to the mid-1800s and is grows as new specimens are added each year. New species of mammals will continue to be described from New South Wales and collections such as the Australian Museum Mammal collection continues to provide the basis for of research. Considerable conservation effort and research is needed to ensure that species we consider to be a common part of the New South Wales fauna today are not represented only by specimens in a museum collection in the future.
Copyright © Australian Museum, 2003
