Bettong

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Genus of marsupials

title: "Bettong" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["marsupial-genera", "marsupials-of-australia", "bettongia", "taxa-named-by-john-edward-gray"] description: "Genus of marsupials" topic_path: "geography/australia" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bettong" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Genus of marsupials ::

| name = Bettongs | image = Bettongia gaimardi.jpg | image_caption = Eastern bettong | taxon = Bettongia | authority = J. E. Gray, 1837 | type_species = Bettongia setosa | type_species_authority = J. E. Gray, 1837 (= Kangurus gaimardi Desmarest, 1822) | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = * B. gaimardi

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 colonisation 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. In August 2021, 40 bettongs were released in different parts of South Australia after being raised in captivity to increase their numbers.

Taxonomy

Four extant species are recognised:

  • Eastern bettong (B. gaimardi)

  • Boodie (B. lesueur)

  • Woylie (B. ogilbyi)

  • Northern bettong (B. tropica) The recently extinct species are:

  • Desert bettong (B. anhydra). Only known from one specimen collected in the Tanami in 1933 and subfossil material from the Nullarbor. The causes of extinction are presumed to be predation by feral cats and foxes, and changes to the fire regime.

  • Nullarbor dwarf bettong (B. pusilla). Known only from subfossil remains but considered to have survived until European settlement.

  • Brush-tailed bettong (B. penicillata). Previously a senior synonym of the Woylie (B. ogilbyi), it was recently split.

  • Little bettong (B. haoucharae). Known from subfossil and mummified remains from the Nullarbor Plain's and Great Victoria Desert.

The fossil species is:

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

  • 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 ogilbyi :::* species †Bettongia penicillata :::* species †Bettongia haoucharae :::* 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, despite not being a member of the genus Bettongia.

References

References

  1. {{MSW3 Groves
  2. "Endangered bettongs return to SA after more than a century".
  3. (1967). "Some taxonomie revision in the Australian marsupial genus Bettongia (Macropodidae), with description of a new species". The Victorian Naturalist.
  4. Burbidge, A.A.. (2016). "''Bettongia anhydra''".
  5. Burbidge, A.A.. (2016). "''Bettongia pusilla''".
  6. Newman-Martin, Jake. (2025-09-05). "A taxonomic revision of the Bettongia penicillata (Diprotodontia: Potoroidae) species complex and description of the subfossil species Bettongia haoucharae sp. nov.". Zootaxa.
  7. 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 [http://www.create.unsw.edu.au/research/files/!Flannery%20&%20Archer%20(1987)%20Bettongia%20moyesi,%20A%20NEW%20AND%20PLESIOMORPHIC%20KANGAROO%20%20(MARSUPIALIA%20POTOROIDAE)%20FROM%20MIOCENE%20SEDIMENTS%20OF%20NORTHWESTERN%20QUEENSLAND.pdf pdf]
  8. (25 April 2015). "Morphological and molecular evidence supports specific recognition of the recently extinct Bettongia anhydra (Marsupialia: Macropodidae)". Journal of Mammalogy.
  9. (2011). "A field guide to the mammals of Australia". Oxford University Press.

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marsupial-generamarsupials-of-australiabettongiataxa-named-by-john-edward-gray