Endemic mammal families of the world: Part 1 Australasian Ecozone

In Australia, we grow up knowing that most of our mammals are found nowhere else on earth.  We almost take that for granted, but it really is an incredible legacy!

But which mammal families are endemic to Australia?  Which are endemic to Australia+New Guinea and their islands?  Which are endemic to the region east of the Wallace Line (incl Sulawesi, New Guinea, Australia)?

How does our level of endemism compare to other great continents?  Please forgive the upside down map – this is the way I see the natural world!

In researching for some cruise ship presentations I found this information hard to come by. So here’s a few lists I’ve put together from my own research.  There may be some gaps or errors – if you know of any, please let me know!

Australasian Endemic Mammal Families: 

Tachyglossidae – Echidnas (endemic to Australia+New Guinea)

Ornithorhynchidae – platypus (Australia only)

Dasyuridae – Antechinuses, Quolls, Tasmanian  Devil (Australia+New Guinea)

Myrmecobiidae – Numbat  (Australia only)

Thylacomyidae – Bilbies  (Australia only)

Peramelidae – Bandicoots  (Australia+New Guinea)

Notoryctidae – Marsupial mole  (Australia only)

Phascolarctidae – koala  (Australia only)

Vombatidae – wombats  (Australia only)

Burramyidae – pygmy possums (Australia+New Guinea & one species in indonesia close to West Papua)

Tasipedidae – honey possum  (Australia only)

Petauridae – sugar glider, leadbeaters possum (Australia+New Guinea)

Pseudocheiridae -ringtails (Australia+New Guinea and several species in Indonesia close to West Papua)

Potoridae – potoroos  (Australia only)

Hypsiprymnodontidae – Musky rat kangaroo  (Australia+New Guinea)

Macropodidae – kangaroos  (Australia+New Guinea)

Acrobatidae – feather-tailed glider & the feather-tailed possum (Australia+New Guinea)

Phalangeridae – brushtails & cuscus (Australia+New Guinea, and Sulawesi, Indonesia)

More to come: Endemic Mammal Families of Africa (African / Afrotropic Ecozone)!

References: Wikipedia species accounts

Burgman & Lindenmayer “Conservation Biology for the Australian Environment”

Australia is one of the world’s most diverse natural places!

The earth is a remarkable, exciting place, packed full of animals and plants.  It is estimated that the world has 5,400+ mammals, 10.000+ species of birds, 10,000+ reptiles (and growing), 7,300+ amphibians, 950,000+ insects and around 310,000 species of higher plants.

But did you know that most of these can be found in 12 countries?  These 12 are the Mega-diverse Nations (1).

60-70% of the earth’s species reside in these 12 nations.

Australia, Brazil, China, Colombia, Congo (DR Congo), Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru together hold 60-70% of the world’s species.

Many of these nations are home to a host of endemic species – that is, species that occur nowhere else.  Australia is home to 210 endemic mammals (5% of the world’s total), 355 endemic birds, 616+ endemic reptiles (nearly 10% of the world’s total reptiles) and 14,458 endemic plants.

Unfortunately, many of these countries are also on the UN list of the worst forest-clearing nations (2).

Orange nations are mega-diverse but also in 20 worst nations for deforestation. Yellow nations are in 20 worst for deforestation. Red nations are mega-diverse but not in worst 20 for deforestation.

The worst land-clearing nations on earth are, in order (in bold are the countries that are also the mega-diverse nations):

Brazil, Indonesia, Sudan, Zambia, Mexico, Australia, Congo, Myanmar, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Argentina, Peru, Cote d’Ivoire, Malaysia, Cameroon, Venezuela, Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador and Angola.

Aussies, unlike most of these countries, we are a developed wealthy economy.  Why are we still cutting down forest that is home to a world-class fauna and flora diversity??

Sources:

(1) Burgman & Lindenmayer “Conservation for the Australian Environment”

(2) United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization 2001, Forest Resources Assessment 2000,
UNFAO.  Unfortunately I can’t find any information more recent than this.  I have read that Australian rates of deforestation had reduced since this time, but have very recently increased again.  Even so, as Australia is 6th on the list of 20, we would have to reduce deforestation greatly to get off this list.