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The Bronze Quoll, Dasyurus Spartacus (Marsupialia: Dasyuridae), a New Species from the Savannahs of Papua New Guinea

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The Bronze Quoll, Dasyurus Spartacus (Marsupialia: Dasyuridae), a New Species from the Savannahs of Papua New Guinea THE BRONZE QUOLL, DASYURUS SPARTACUS (MARSUPIALIA: DASYURIDAE), A NEW SPECIES FROM THE SAVANNAHS OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA Stephen Van Dyck Van Dyck, S.. 1987. The Bronze Quoll, Dasyurus spariacus (Marsupialia: Dasyuridac), a new species from the savannahs o f Papua New Guinea. Ausi. Mammal. II: 145-156. $p. nov. is described from the low mixed savannahs of southwestern Papua New Guinea. It differs from all other species of D asyurus in the aircm e narrowness of the rostrum measured bcl^vcn left and right lachr>'mal canals. Its hallux and ear lengths are small. D. spartacus is a specialised species; its affinities lie with D. altwpunaaius and possibly D. du n m alli (a fossil species). Key words: Dasyurus spartacus, marsupial, Papua New Guinea, phytogeny. Stephen Van Dyck. Queensland Museum, PO Hox 300, South Brisbane, Queensland, Australia 4101. M anuscript received 16 July 1987. UNTIL 1979 Dasyurus albopunctatus Schlegel, (MNHN). Additional specimens examined and was the only quoll known from Papua New Guinea. mentioned in this paper have registration numbers In that year J. Waithman published results o f a prefixed as follows: National Museum and Art mammal survey undertaken in the Trans-Fly Plains Gallery, Papua New Guinea, Boroko (PM); of southwest Papua New Guinea during 1972-3. Queensland Museum Brisbane (J, JM or F); Part of this collection included 5 specimens o f a Western Australia Museum, Perth (WAM); Dasyurus referred to D. g e o ffr o ii (Waithman 1979) Australian Museum, Sydney (M). collected at Morehead, Mibini and Mari. I have examined the following holotypes: Subsequent references to this Dasyurus have also Dasyurus geoffroii geoffroii Gould 1841 (BM been made under the specific title o f g e o ffro ii 41.1213), D. g.fortis Thomas 1906 (BM 6.8.1.340), (Ziegler 1977, Archer 1979, Archer 1982, Honacki, D. haUucatus hallucatus Gould 1842 (BM Kinman and Koeppl 1982, Arnold 1983, Taylor 42.5.26.16), D. h. exilis Thomas 1909 (BM 9.4.23.8), 1984). It is now dear that these specimens represent D. h. predator Thomas 1926 (BM 15.3.5.77) D. h. a new species of Dasyurus which is described here n esaeu s Thomas 1926 (BM 26.3.11.25), D. as D. spartacus. albopunctatus albopunctatus Schlegel 1880 (RMNH Specimen a.), D. a. fu scu s Milne-Edwards 1880 (MNHN 1880-1463), D. a. daemoneUus MATERIALS AND METHODS Thomas 1904 (BM 3.12.1.24), D. du n m alli Dasyurus systematics follow Kirsch and Calaby Bartholomai 1971 (F 6579). The holotypes o f D. (1977); terminology of cranial, external and dental viverrinus (Shaw 1800) and D. m aculatus (Kerr morphology follows Archer (1981); and tooth 1792) are presumably lost. number Tollows Archer (1978). Cranial and dental measurements were made with NSK electronic SYSTEMATICS digital calipers after the method shown in Table I. All specimens compared in diagnosis were adults Dasyurus spartacus sp. nov. (Fig. 1, Table 1) with fully erupted P ：. Holotype. PM 22000, adult male, dry skin, skull Specimens o f Dasyurus were examined in each and dentaries. collected 11 April 1973 by J. of (he following museums: Bernice Bishop Waithman. Museum, Honolulu (BBM); British Museum Type locality. Morehead, Trans-Fly Plains, Papua (Natural History} London (BM); Rijksmuseum van New Guinea 8041*S, 141。39^ (Fig. 2>. Natuurlijke Histoire, Leiden (RMNH); American Museum of Natural History, N w York (AMNH); Paratypes. From Morehead, adult male PM22004 Museum National DTIistoire Naturelle, Paris in ethanol with skull extracted, collected 25 146 AUSTRALIAN MAMMALOGY November 1973 by H. Parnaby; juvenile male PM22001, puppet skin with skull extracted, collected 17 May 1973 by J. Waithman. From Mari (oil line Na 1) 90U S, 141°42 E, adult female PM22003 skull only, collected 18 July 1973 by J. Tameiona. From Mibini 8°50*S, 14l°38rE, juvenile female PM22002 skin with skull extracted, collected 26 June 1973 by J. Waithman. Diagnosis. D. spartacus is a medium sized but thick set Dasyurus immediately separable from all other species of D asyuru s by the extreme narrowness of the rostrum measured between left and right lachrymal canals (Fig. 3). It also possesses a reduced hallux (Fig. 4) and the pinna is small. Externally. Unlike D. maculalus, D. spartacus lacks white spots on the tail and lacks striate pads on the fore and hind feet. D. spartacus differs from D. maculatus in being much smaller (eg. head-body length adult male D. maculatus (J8059, in absence | | o f holotype) 605 mm, D. spartacus (holotype s l PM22000) 345 mm, and having much smaller white spots on the body (average diameter o f side spots in D. m aculatus (J8059) 34.4 mm, in D. spartacus 2 I (holotype PM22000) 5.4 mm. i i D. 5/w/7“c*u5 differs from Ww/vVjiw (Shaw, 1800) in having a hallux. D. spartacus differs from D. geof/roii in having 2 a body colour a deep bronze to tan brown with a | a black tail and much smaller white body spots ^ (average diameter o f side spots in D. geof/roii 1" (holotype BM41.1213) 12.1 mm, in D. spartacus (holotype PM22000) 5.4 mm. D. spartacus possesses a vestigial hallux (Fig. 4) which is approximately y〇 5 58% smaller than that in D. g e o ffr o ii (eg. D. spartacus (spirit specimen PM22004) 2.1 mm, D. r g e o ffr o ii (spirit specimen JM2057) 4.9 mm. D. spartacus has much smaller ears (eg. D. spartacus 2.1 (holotype PM22000) 30.0 mm, D. g e o ffr o ii II (holotype BM41.1213) 60.0 mm. D. spartacus lacks the striate pads on fore and hind feet present in D. hallucatus and D. IIo 多 albopunctatus. D. spartacus also differs from D. hallucatus and D. albopunctatus in being larger (eg. II head-body length adult male D. hallucatus (JM 5701, in absence o f measurements accompanying i s holotype) 285 mm, D. albopunctatus (M14853, in absence of measurements accompanying holotype) 266 mm, D. spartacus (holotype PM22000) 380 mm. Internally. D. spartacus differs from D. maculatus in being much smaller (adult male basicranial length D. maculatus (J8935, in absence of holotype) 96.7 VAN DYCK: A NEW DASYURUS 147 Fig. /. Dasyurus spariacus, skull and dentary o f holotype PM22000; scale, a x 0.80, b x 0.80, c x 0.83, d x 1.12. D. spartacus differs from D. hallucatus in being much larger (basicranial length adult male D. hallucatus (J16752 as holotype is female) 62.5 mm, D. spartacus (holotype PM22000) 70.2 mm, having a *U* shaped incisor row, having the metacone of M2 posterior to stylar cusp D, having M5 reduced with no metacone, having metacrista of M3 shorter than the metacrista of M4, having metaconids reduced and having a short and crushed premolar row with bulbous premolars. D. spartacus differs from D. albopunctatus in being larger (adult male basicranial length D. albopunctatus (M14854, as holotype is female with smashed skull) 57.0 mm, D. spartacus (holotype PM22000 ) 70.2 mm, and in having less reduced Fig. 2. Map showing collection sites (Morchead. Mibini metaconids. and Mari} of Dasyurus in Papua New Guinea. Description. A thick-set, narrow-nosed quoll mm, D. spartacus (holotype PM22000) 70.2 mm. distinctive for its rich dark, golden-brown ionings, D. spartacus also has a procumbent and separated minute white spots, dark golden-bronze feet and I1, a metaconid on M2 and a short, crushed dark tan tail. premolar row. Pelage. Colour for holotype as follows (colour D. spartacus differs from D. viverrinus in having names after Ridgway 1912); dorsal fur above a procumben( and separated I1, greatly reduced shoulders 11.2 mm with basal 4.5 mm fine, silky, metaconids, and a short and crushed prcmolar row. apical 6.7 mm medially thickened, spinous. Basal 8 mm Clove Brown (dark chocolate), median 1.6 D. spartacus differs from D. geoffroii in having mm Ochraceous-Tawny (orange-brown), apical 1.6 a short and crushed premolar row with broad, mm Fuscous Black. Fur of back between shoulders bulbous premolars. appears as dark chocolate flashed with orange. 148 AUSTRALIAN MAMMALOGY . Q Qw Q £ n jl s l .<5u e J 2 . 6 jo .uS B q 5 lu p ! M e uouxxkxl EnJJSOJ • e u j £ 6 u a l £ p I 3 P V ! m a. o E 2 - C4 C I w 一丨 I o t 2 C 0/ i 2 \____ ww a c •snufJJaA>ap§!!sff8 ^ c o O bT — ^ r o a o ^ a w a c m ' hn o c oocd.3IDI:>undoqad ^ 27 . c o p c a Clove Brown extends anteriorly to tip o f nose and eye so that sides o f face contrastingly light against posteriorly to tip o f tail. On head, relatively long dark head-patch. hair (10 mm) lacks lawny band thereby creating very dark (Clove Brown) triangular head patch from H air on rum p (to 9 m m long) sim ilar co lo u r to nose, above eyes, back to between ears. Hair shoulders but median Ochraceous-Tawny band betw een eye and car and for 4 m m above each eye slightly longer (2.5 mm). Sides o f body, forearms, has median band (up to 20 mm long) Chamois thighs characterised by increase in length o f median (light yellow). Band may increase to 4 mm below colour band (Yellow Ochre), to 6 m m (on hair o f VAN DYCK: A NEW DASYURUS 149 II mm) so overall colour of sides is bright golden- Tail.
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