Bettong

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 in the work Mammal Species of the World (2005):

Bettongia gaimardi, Eastern bettong, also known as the Tasmanian bettong
Bettongia lesueur Boodie
Bettongia penicillata Woylie
Bettongia tropica Wakefield, 1967. Northern bettong

In addition, at least three extinct species are known:

Bettongia moyesi, Middle Miocene bettong from Riversleigh
Bettongia pusilla, Nullarbor dwarf bettong, known only from subfossil remains, probably became extinct after colonisation
Bettongia anhydra, described in 2015 from a specimen collected in 1933 near Lake Mackay, Northern Territory.

The phylogeny of the genus has seen a grouping of 'brush-tailed' taxa allied within the genus Bettongia, and this includes the extant species Bettongia gaimardi, B. tropica and B. penicillata.

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