No. 100 JANUARY 1990 THE r ■ i inc ^ y Tasmanian Naturalist REGISTERED BY AUSTRALIA POST PUBLICATION No. TBH0495 ISSN 0819—6826 POSTAL ADDRESS: G.P.O. BOX 68A, HOBART 7001 ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION: $10.00 EDITOR: D.G. HIRD THE SPOTTED-TAILED QUOLL DASYURUS MACULATUS (DASYURIDAE, MARSUPIALIA) IN TASMANIA R.H. Green and T.J. Scarborough Queen Victoria Museum, Launceston Abstract Very little detail has been published on the Spotted-tailed Quoll Dasyurus maculatus and we have here attemped to bring together what published and un¬ published data is available on the Tasmanian population. Males exceed females of similar age in size and weight, the heaviest male recorded was 6.1 kg and heaviest female 3.0 kg. Deliberate collecting of live adults and salvaging of road-killed animals indicate a numerical bias in favour of males, though this may be influenced by behavioural factors in males. The sexes of pouch young were approximately equal. D.maculatus is numerically strong and widely distributed throughout Tasmania but it does not now occur on any offshore islands. Its numbers appear to have increased significantly in recent years. Most young are born between the third week of June and the third week of August with five or six forming the usual complement. Young may leave the pouch and commence to eat meat at about 3 months old. D.maculatus hunts for food mostly at night but will become active during daylight, if hungry. It preys on a range of species, from small Pademelons Thylogale billardierii to invertebrates such as beetles and grasshoppers. Poultry pens are sometimes raided for ducks and fowls and carcasses of dead animals are scavenged. It has few natural enemies apart from man attempting to control its marauding habits and accidental deaths on roadways. Eleven species of endoparasites and 11 species of ectoparasites have been recoded from D. maculatus. Each author is responsible for the opinions and facts expressed in his or her article— EDITOR. 2 The Tasmanian Naturalist January 1990 Introduction The Spotted-tailed Quoll Dasyurus maculatus (Kerr 1792) occurs widely in Eastern Australia. Two sub-species are presently recognised, D.m.gracilis a geographically isolated population in North-eastern Queensland and D.m. maculatus which occurs in South-eastern Queensland, Eastern New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania. In recent years many smaller members of the family Dasyuridae have been the subject of field and laboratory studies but D. maculatus has received scant atten¬ tion. A very fine photograph of it decorated both volumes of Carnivorous Marsupials , published by the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales (Archer 1982) following the highly successful seminar on dasyurids held at the University of New South Wales in May 1980. These volumes comprise almost 800 pages covering the 64 papers presented at the seminar but it is ironical to note that there are no papers which deal specifically with D.maculatus. It is cited in 16 papers and in the Foreword but only as part of more general works such as dasyurid communication (Croft 1982, pp.291-309) which includes useful reference to courtship and display. Most are very brief references in papers on other species. Fleay (1940, 1948) gave accounts of some of his observations, Troughton (1965 pp.45-46) and Green (1973 p.30) gave very brief and generalised accounts, Ashlin and Smith (1987 pp.39-40) summarised the few publications and data then available to them and Edgar (1983 pp.18-19) gave a brief summary. These several publications serve to illustrate the lack of attention this marsupial has received and the deficiency of information on its life and habits. As the Queen Victoria Museum has, in recent years, received into the research collections about 80 specimens of D.maculatus including pouch young, skulls and specimens with incomplete documentation, and there was also available further materials and unpublished information held by others, an attempt is here made to correlate these data on the Tasmanian population and present it in a general summary. Description The pelage on the back, flanks and tail is basally slate grey, has a subterminal tan brown band and is tipped dark brown to black. The belly pelage is basally pale grey, tipped pale cream. Guard hairs on the back are black and on the belly cream. The composite effect is tan brown but paler on the legs and facial region and cream on the belly. The white spotting which occurs irregularly over the body, legs and tail varies greatly in size, abundance and distribution. Rarely are animals so marked on the top of the neck and shoulders and spots on the back are relatively small, from five to ten millimetres across. Largest spots are on the lower flanks and belly region where they may be as much as forty millimetres across. Spotting may or may not The Tasmanian Naturalist January 1990 3 be present on the feet and only rarely are the tail or toes tipped white. Heavily spotted individuals may have up to 150 markings distributed over their body, legs and tail. Body size varies greatly with that of males always exceeding females of similar age (Table 1). Breeding maturity is apparently attained before maximum body size is reached, proportions and weight apparently continuing to increase well beyond the first year. Green (1973) gave the weight of near to fully grown animals as 3.5 kg while Edgar (1983) gave males attaining up to 7.0 kg. The heaviest male D.maculatus which we have processed weighed 6.1 kg and the heaviest female 2.5 kg (Table 1). The Tasmanian Museum and Nigel Brothers (pers.comm.) have records of females up to 3.0 kg. Sex No. Wt. range Wt. mean SE SD M 35 1.7-6.1 2.62 .19 1.14 F 12 1.4-2.5 2.0 .11 .4 Table 1. Body weight (kg) of 47 D.maculatus from the collections of the Queen Victoria Museum. The skull of D.maculatus is illustrated on page 15 of Green and Rainbird (1983) and shows the robust features, prominent carnivorous dentition and long, sabre-like canines. The lower canines close into sockets in front of the upper pair, thus providing greater efficiency for holding prey. A prominent sagittal crest pro¬ vides for strong muscle attachments and thus a more powerful bite. Sex Ratio General collecting from all sources indicates that males numerically exceed females. Settle (1978) points out that to draw conclusions from such collecting may be misleading as his captive studies showed males to be more inquisitive and- bold than females and he suggested that this would no doubt result in more males being trapped or otherwise killed than females. He also found captive litters were of close to equal numbers of males and females. An analysis of our data for Tasmanian animals has produced similar findings. From a total of 162 adults and subadults available to us from all sources, and for which the sex was recorded, 126 (78%) were males and 36 (22%) were females. Mooney (pers.comm.) found road kills in the ratio of approximately nine males to every female. Of 17 sexable pouch young in the Queen Victoria Museum collection 9 (53%) were females. These data approximate those of Settle (1978) for New South Wales D.maculatus. It is interesting to note that in a series of 49 Eastern Quolls, D.viverinus , collected in North-eastern Tasmania in 1966, 36 (74%) were males and 13 (26%) were females but pouch young collected in the same area were found to comprise 36% males and 64% females (Green 1967), further supporting Settle’s (1978) assumption that males are more trappable than females. 4 The Tasmanian Naturalist January 1990 Distribution and Habitat D.maculatus occurs generally throughout Tasmania (see map, Figure 1). Most specimens acquired are salvaged as road kills with a lesser number having been trapped or shot while raiding poultry pens in rural areas. The pattern of distribu¬ tion shown in Figure 1 and Appendix A is therefore mostly a result ol oppor¬ tunistic collecting. Absence of records from extensive areas in the South-west are no doubt a reflection of sparsity of human settlement and roading. D.maculatus occurred on King Island in Bass Strait until about 1923 when the last of the island’s population is believed to have been exterminated (Green and McGarvie 1971). Spencer and Kershaw (1910) discussed that island’s fauna and described a larger subfossil species, D.bowlingi. There are no records of its having been pre¬ sent on any other Tasmanian islands since European settlement. Its most favoured habitat appears to be the sclerophyll forest and edges of rain¬ forests. Pastoral area bordering bushland are particularly favoured as these pro¬ vide both diurnal cover and sleeping dens with open areas nearby over which it may hunt for food. Good populations also occur in the dry coastal heathlands of the North-east and its altitudinal range extends from the seashore to about 1000 metres. As with the other larger dasyurids its numbers appear to have increased significantly in the last forty years. Breeding and Birth Fleay (1940) gave his experiences and findings after successfully breeding and rearing D.maculatus at Healesville, Victoria, between 1935 and 1940. He also described the behaviour and posture of a female immediately prior to giving birth, but actual births of D.maculatus do not appear to have been observed and recorded. Troughton (1954a, 1954b) gave some information on the birth and growth in captivity of D.maculatus captured south of Sydney and records the following “Mr Grant was able to establish that the first two infants were born on 1st July (1953), the pouch being vacant on the previous day. Another three were attached to teats on 2nd July, although all five were probably born on the first day”. The mother was apparently exceptionally tame, thus allowing examination of the pouch without undue stress. This observation does however suggest that a significant time lapse occurred, at least between the second and third births. Set¬ tle (1978) gave enlightening details following his captive studies and successful breeding of D.maculatus taken from Carrai State Forest, Kempsey, New South Wales in 1974, and gave a detailed account of the mating behaviour of his captive animals and of the social behaviour and habits of juveniles. Edgar (1983) also summarises breeding and behaviour. No records of the number of young produc¬ ed with each pregnancy are available though this could be expected to exceed the nipple complement (six) as such has been found to occur in other dasyurid mar¬ supials and maximum pouch occupancy is not unusual in D.maculatus. We have been unable to find a description of newly born young. Troughton The Tasmanian Naturalist January 1990 5 Figure 1. Map of Tasmania with localities from which D.maculatus has been recorded. See Appendix A for key to numbers. (1954b) failed to give any information from the litter he recorded and Fleay (1940) simply states “Measuring 7 mm in length in their curled-up posture, and coloured pink, the offspring are literally mere dots at birth”. From their observa¬ tions it was deduced that D. maculatus is polyoestrous with a cycle of 21 days and a heat period of about three days. Only during heat will the female become recep¬ tive to the male and copulation may last up to eight hours, during which the male grasps the neck region of the female in his mouth while she remains crouched (Settle 1978; Edgar 1983). Gestation is 21 days (Edgar 1983) and Victorian and New South Wales D.maculatus give birth during July. 6 The Tasmanian Naturalist January 1990 HEAD LENGTH (mm) 120- 110 - 100- 90 80H 70 60- 50- 40 - 30 20 10 ' .. xs \ •x‘" 0 600 mm T.L... \ EAT MEAT CANINES ERUPTED WEANED EYES OPEN * V N PIGMENTED PINNAE FREE SEX DETERMINABLE 50 —I— 100 150 “I— 200 250 AGE (days) Figure 2. Estimated growth rate of pouch young D.maculatus. X indicates specimens in the Queen Victoria Museum collection. Fleay (1940), Troughton (1954b), Settle (1978) and Edgar (1983) described some features of pouch young development at known ages. We have selected alcohol preserved specimens from the Queen Victoria Museum collection, the development of which matched those they described, measured head lengths and plotted these against the ages they give for their animals of similar development (see Figure 2). These data produced an approximate straight growth-line which we believe to be a reasonably accurate method of determining the age of pouch young D.maculatus . In Figure 2 we have plotted head lengths of pouch young in the Queen Victoria Museum collection to give us approximate ages and dates of birth. Growth and Development A litter of six in the Queen Victoria Museum (Reg. No. 1988/1/72-77) collected 26 August 1973) have a crown-rump length of 11mm and must be very near to new-born, perhaps two or three days old. The head length is 5.5mm and tail 2.5mm. The mouth opening is about 0.4mm and the nostril openings are about 0.1mm. There is no appearance of ears or eyes, the head being smooth and rounded and otherwise without obvious features. The fore legs are 3mm long and the pes is 1mm across with the First digit a barely discernable bud. Digits two to five are mere buds with weak, soft, deciduous claws. The hind legs are 2mm long, the digits being almost indiscernable. The Tasmanian Museum hold one set of five pouch young (Reg. No. A622) about 10mm long, collected near Westbury in July 1960 (Pers.comm.Katherine Davidson). The Tasmanian Naturalist January 1990 7 A litter of six in the Queen Victoria Museum (Reg. No. 1988/1/66-71), collec¬ tion date not known but estimated to be about 14 days old have a crown rump length of 20mm, a head length of 12.5mm and a tail length of 7mm. The mouth opening is about 1mm and the nose is beginning to develop and appears as a slight protruberence about the top lip. The ears are vaguely detailed and the eyes very slightly bulged. The fore paws are 7mm below the elbow, with the five digits well formed and curled strongly inwards but the permanent claws have not erupted. The pes is well formed and has a length of 3.7mm, the five digits being well form¬ ed with the claws not erupted. Sex is determinable, the pouch appearing as a weak fold and the scrotum as a bud. Vibrissae and fur have not erupted. Four from a litter of six in the Queen Victoria Museum (Reg. No. 1988/1/97-100), collected 1st September 1987 and estimated to be about 36 days old have crown-rump length of 43mm, a head length of 23mm and a tail length of about 25mm. The lips are well formed but still sealed laterally and the nose is well formed and pale grey. The pinnae of the ears are free from the sides of the head and the eyes are closed. The pes is 9mm and the toes are 2mm. The claws are free on both manus and pes, pale with dark tips and about 1mm long. Pads are well formed on both the manus and pes. The pouch is well formed and six nipples ap¬ pear as buds. The scrotum is pendulous and of about 1mm diameter. Mystacial vibrissae have erupted to a length of 6mm. Dark fur has erupted on the head where it reaches to about 0.5mm. Elsewhere it is barely perceptible to the naked eye, being shortest and palest on the tail, feet and belly. The composite effect is a dark grey forehead paling to a very light grey on the rump and limbs and pale flesh pink on the belly. A few dorsal and lateral spots of about 1mm diameter are discernible, the fur in these appearing silvery or unpigmented. A litter of five in the Queen Victoria Museum (Reg. No. 1988/1/101-105), col¬ lected on 25th September 1984 and estimated to be about 43 days old have a crown-rump lenght of about 50mm with a head length of 26.5mm and a tail length of about 28mm. The head and body length is about 65mm. The lips are sealed laterally and the eyes and ears are closed. The pes is 11mm long and the pelage very slightly in advance of those in the previously described litter (1988/1/97-100). Two from a litter of three in the Queen Victoria Museum (Reg. No. 1987/1/111 and 113), collected on 24th September 1987 and estimated to be about 95 days old, have a crown-rump length of about 85mm, the head being 47mm, tail about 80mm and head and body length of about 120mm. The lips have parted laterally and the eyes and ears are open. The pes is 23mm long, the toes being 4mm. The mystacial vibrissae reach a length of 20mm, the fur on the forehead to 50mm and spots on the body, tail and legs are prominent. Lower in¬ cisor and canine teeth have erupted to about 1mm, upper incisors are erupting but all other teeth are still enveloped in the gum membrane. The stomach contained only fluid. 8 The Tasmanian Naturalist January 1990 Troughton (1954b) recorded a young female, born from New South Wales stock on 2 July, as having attained a total length, including tail of 600mm at eight months old (i.e. on 2nd March) and commented that it “appeared about half grown”. From Figure 2 we have therefore been able to deduce that the five sets of pouch young for which we have collection times would have been born between the third week in June and the third week in August, thus being consistent with winter breeding as stated by other authorities, and approximating the breeding season for the smaller Eastern Quoll D.viverinus (Green, 1969). Food and Feeding Troughton (1954b) found a captive adult female had “a special liking for rab¬ bit meat. To her captors’ surprise, she also proved a most efficient killer by poun¬ cing in a flash and killing an adult rabbit with a bite behind its ears. When hungry it would eat all the rabbit flesh, leaving only torn pieces of skin. It also killed a large lizard by the same method but ate the tail only”. Also tiger cats proved to be highly insectivorous, eating all kinds of hard shelled beetles, other insects and the larger larvae”. Settle (1978) observed a captive at ninety-five days old kill “an adult mouse less than five seconds after it was introduced to her nest box even though she had no previous experience with live prey”. Edgar (1983) describes D.maculatus as being “an opportunistic hunter of a variety of prey, including birds and their young, rats and other small terrestrial and aboreal mammals, gliding possums, small macropods, reptiles and ar¬ thropods” and “also scavenging carcasses of domestic stock”. These observations and opinions are paralleled in respect to the feeding habits of the Tasmanian population of D.maculatus. N. J. Mooney, Tasmanian Depart¬ ment of Lands, Parks and Wildlife, has kindly supplied us with details of some of his field observations, extracts of which are as follows. “Most of the animals I have seen actually foraging in the day were small individuals in early Summer. Certainly at West Point (N.W. Tasmania in 1983-84) an adult female hunted diurnally when she had large young. The obvious implication is that high nutrient requirements of breeding females forces them to be at least partially diurnal. However, there seems an element of diurnality in the species and these females may just increase this degree. In May 1988 I saw three quolls of different sizes in about 3 km of forest track in the middle of the day 5 km South of Togari (N.W. Tasmania)”. On one occasion I saw a medium to large quoll chasing a newly weaned Rufous Wallaby (Thylogale billardierif). On another occasion I drove around a corner and found a large quoll grappling with a half grown Rufous Wallaby. My distur¬ bance broke the fight and the wallaby hopped off looking very tired and the quoll continued after it. I had the impression the quoll had been tracking the wallaby The Tasmanian Naturalist January 1990 9 for some time. Unfortunately I could not find them again”. “Scavenging is very important. I have seen them feeding on road killed Green Rosella, Bennett’s Wallaby, Brush-tailed Possum and Wombat and on beach- washed Flathead, Stingray, Fairy Penguin, Short-tailed Shearwater and Cuttlefish”. “Females at West Point, while diurnally hunting, seem to catch many small skinks (lizards), pouncing on them like a cat and pinning them to the ground with their front paws. I have no quantitative data but have found the following in scats from trapped individuals and in the guts of road kills.” (See Table 2). Prey species Ring-tailed Possum Eastern Swamp-rat Black Rat House Mouse Green Rosella Fantailed Cuckoo Tawny Frogmouth Laughing Kookaburra Domestic poultry Brown Tree-frog Unidentified frog Leatherjacket (fish) Unidentified fish scales Coleoptera (beetles) Orthoptera (grasshoppers, crickets) Occasions present 1 2 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 1 3 1 2 10 5 Table 2. Some prey species taken by D.maculatus (pers.comm.N.J. Mooney) Settle (1978) found that insects formed a major part of the diet of New South Wales D.maculatus during Summer but in Winter it fed mostly on mammals and scavenged road-kills. D.maculatus appears to be greatly dependent upon its olfactory system as it is almost constantly sniffing the ground and its surroundings as if attempting to in¬ terpret the faintest odours and scent trails. Such behaviour may well be a response to its need for social communication with its own species as well as part of its hunting techniques. Natural Enemies Because of its size, strength and natural agility, D.maculatus appears to have few natural enemies in Tasmania and it lives in apparent harmony with the larger Tasmanian Devil, Sarcophilus harrissi. Where feeding stations are set up, such as 10 The Tasmanian Naturalist January 1990 at Pencil Pine Lodge near Cradle Mountain, and household scraps are put out each evening, it will feed from the trough in association with devils and possums, expressing little more concern than an occasional vocal threat and cautious respect for similar such threats from the other feeding mammals. Very little information was available on population fluctuation until recently but it is generally accepted that its numbers suffered a signifcant decline in the first quarter of this century, as did the Eastern Quoll and Thylacine, Thylacinus cynocephalus. The decline is thought to have been primarily the result of an epidemic disease which similarly affected all the large dasyurids (Green, 1973). Its numbers were noticeably increasing about 1970 and today it is probably in greater abundance than ever. Its most common cause of death is now the result of the actions of man, direct¬ ly and indirectly. Pastoral development has undoubtedly brought benefits to it in providing an enhanced food supply through the introduction of domestic animals and rabbits and, since the nineteen fifties, a significant increase in the numbers of grazing marsupials, the young of which all offer easy prey. This in turn does however, leads to the death of many quolls tempted to take free range domestic poultry and even to raid hen houses or duck pens at night to prey upon the birds. Such excursions are generally repeated on succeeding nights until all the stock are killed or the predator itself falls prey to the owners gun or a trap. Speeding vehicles are perhaps the main cause of accidental deaths of D.maculatus when, blinded by headlights while crossing roadways or attracted to feed on a road- killed carcass, they become road casualties themselves. Museum records indicate that road casualties and individuals killed while raiding poultry pens are now the principal known causes of death, though domestic dogs do occasionally kill some as a result of accidental encounters. Parasites Parasites have been regularly collected from specimens of D.maculatus and forwarded to various authorities for determination. The results of these are summarised below. Endoparasites TREMATODA: Fam. CATHAEMASIIDAE Mehlisia acuminata (pers.comm. Munday) Pharyngostomoides dasyuri (pers.comm. Munday) CESTODA: Fam. TAENIIDAE Anoplotaenia dasyuri (pers.comm. Munday) Dasyurotaenia dasyuri Beddard, 1912 (pers.comm. Obendorf) The Tasmanian Naturalist January 1990 11 NEMATODA: Fam. ASCARIDIDAE Baylisascaris tasmaniensis Sprent, 1970 Fam. PHYSALOPTERIDAE Physaloptera sarcophili (pers.comm. Munday; tentative only) Fam. AMIDOSTOMATIDAE Woolleya sprenti (pers.comm. Obendorf) Fam. SPIRURIDAE Cyathospirura dasyuridis (pers.comm. Obendorf) Fam. TRICHINELLIDAE Trichinella pseudospiralis (pers.comm. Obendorf) PROTOZOA APICOMPLEXA GROUP Sarcocystis sp. Ectoparasites ARACHNIDA: Fam. TROMBICULIDAE Neotrombicula novaehollandiae (Hirst, 1929) (Domrow and Lester, 1985) Fam. IXODIDAE Ixodes tasmani Neumann, 1899 (pers.comm. Kemp) Ixodes fecial is Warburton and Nutt all, 1909 (Roberts, 1970) SIPHONAPTERA: Fam. PYGIPSYLLIDAE Pygiopsylla hoplia Jordan and Rothschild, 1922 (Dunnet and Mardon, 1974) Pygiopsylla zethi (Rothschild, 1904) (Dunnett and Mardon, 1974) Acanthopsylla rothschildi rothschildi (Holland, 1971) Uropsylla tasmanica Rothschild, 1905 (Dunnet and Mardon, 1974) Fam. STEPHANOCIRCIDAE Stephanocircus greeni tasmanica (Traub and Dunnet, 1973) Stephanocircus simsoni Rothschild, 1905 (Dunnet and Mardon, 1974) Stephanocircus dasyuri Skues, 1893 (Dunnet and Mardon, 1974) Discussion Since European settlement the range of the Spotted-tailed Quoll throughout Australia has been considerably reduced, in many areas a direct result of exten¬ sive land clearing. Edgar (1983) expressed concern as to the long-term effects of present day logging operations on D.maculatus and forecast that “If the last forest areas in which it is found are opened up by logging, it may become so thin- 12 The Tasmanian Naturalist January 1990 ly distributed that it will be unable to survive”. In Tasmania its population suffered a decline in the first half of this century, apparently the result of an epidemic disease which at the time depleted the numbers of all the larger dasyurids, but since about 1950 the trend appears to have been reversed. The Tasmanian population of D.maculatus has recovered and is presently strong but, as history has demonstrated, this is not grounds for complacency. The dearth of information on its general biology, together with further pressures to which it may be submitted by forestry and land clearing operations in the future, and the possibility of a repetition of the former depredation all combine to leave it vulnerable to serious numerical decline. Encouragement and support for the study of this marsupial should therefore be given while its numbers are still strong in Tasmania, lest Edgar’s (1983) predictions come true. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We are most grateful for the contributions from Phillip A. Andrews and Katherine Davidson, Tasmanian Museum; Nick Mooney and Nigel Brothers, Tasmanian Department of Parks, Wildlife and Heritage; University of Tasmania; Andrew Kelly, Tasmanian Wildlife Park and numerous others who have kindly and generously provided us with data and their personal observations. REFERENCES Archer, M. 1982 (ed.) Carnivorous Marsupials Roy. Zool. Soc. New South Wales: Sydney. Ashlin, Heather J. and Smith, Meredith J. (1987). Marsupials of Australia. Sydney: Lansdowne. Beddard, F.E. (1912). Contributions to the anatomy and systematic arrangement of the Cestodidae 11. On two new genera of cestodes from mammals. Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 994-1018. Croft, D.B. (1982). Communication in the Dasyuridae (MARSUPIALIA): A review. Carnivorous Marsupials , ed. by M. Archer, Roy. Zool. Soc. New South Wales, Sydney. Domrow, Robert and Lester, Keith N. (1985). Chiggers of Australia (ACARI: TROMBICULIDAE); an Annotated Checklist, Keys and Bibliography. Aust. J. Zool. Suppl. Set. No. 114, 1-111. Dunnet, G.M. and Mardon, D.K. (1974). A Monograph of Australian Fleas (SIPHONAPTERA) Aust. J. Zool. Suppl. Ser. No. 30, 1-273. Edgar, R. (1983). Complete Book of Australian Mammals , ed. by Ronald Strahan, Sydney: Angus and Robertson. The Tasmanian Naturalist January 1990 13 Fleay, David (1940). Breeding of the Tiger-cat. The Viet. Nat. 56: 159-163. Fleay, David (1948). Australia’s Marsupial Tiger Cat. Animal Kingdom. 51: 36-41. Green, R.H. (1967). Notes on the Devil ( Sarcophilus harrisi) and the Quoll (Dasyurus viverrinus) in North-eastern Tasmania. Rec. Queen Viet. Mus. No. 27,1-13. Green, R.H., and McGarvie, A.M. (1971). The Birds of King Island, with references to other Bass Strait islands and annotated lists of vertebrate fauna. Rec. Queen Viet. Mus. No. 40, 1-42. Green, R.H. (1973). The Mammals of Tasmania , Launceston: The Author. Green, R.H. and Rainbird, J.L. (1983). Skulls of the Mammals of Tasmania. Launceston: Queen Victoria Museum. Holland, G.P. (1971). Two new species and three new sub-species of Acan- thopsylla from Australia with some notes on the genus (Siphonaptera: Pygiopsyllidae) Can. Ent. 103: 213-234. Roberts, F.H.S. (1960). A systematic study of the Australian species of the genus Ixodes (Acarina: Ixodidae) Aust. J. Zool. 8: 392-485 Roberts, F.H.S. (1970). Australian Ticks. Melbourne C.S.I.R.O. Settle, Graham A. (1978). The Quiddity of Tiger Quolls. Aust. Nat. Hist. 19 (5): 164-169 Spencer, Baldwin and Kershaw, J.A. (1910). A collection of sub-fossil bird and marsupial remains from King Island, Bass Strait. Mem. Nat. Mus. Melb. 3: 5-35. Traub, Robert and Dunnet, George M. (1973). Revision of the Siphonopteran genus Stephanocircus Skuse, 1893 (STEPHANOCIRCIDAE). Aust. J. Zool. Supp. Ser. No. 20.41-128. Troughton, Ellis (1954a). The Marsupial “Tiger Cat”. The Aust. Mus. Mag 11 (5): 168-170. Troughton, Ellis (1954b). The Marsupial “Tiger Cat” Birth and Growth in Captivity. Aust. Mus. Mag. 11 (6): 200-202 Troughton, Ellis (1965). The Furred Animals of Australia. Melbourne: Angus and Robertson Ltd. 14 The Tasmanian Naturalist January 1990 APPENDIX A DASYURUS MACULATUS Distribution records from all sources. (See map Fig. 1) NumberLocality Lat. Long. Record 1 Arthur River 4103 14540 Q.V.M. specimen 2 Bagdad 4237 14713 B.A. sighting 3 Balfour 4116 14455 N.J.M. sighting 4 Bass Highway toward Smithton 4052 14509 Q.V.M. sighting roadkill 5 Between Smithton and Burnie 4052 14530 Q.V.M. sighting roadkill 6 Bicheno 4153 14818 N.J.M. sighting 7 Binnalong Bay 4115 14820 Q.V.M. specimen 8 Blessington 4131 14728 Q.V.M. specimen 9 Boat Harbour 4045 14538 Q.V.M. specimen 10 Borradaile turnoff, Maggs Mountain 4142 14612 Q.V.M. specimen 11 Both well, 10 kms north of 4223 14701 N.B. sighting 12 Bridport 4100 14724 Q.V.M. specimen 13 Buckland 4237 14743 T.M.A.G. specimen 14 Campbell Town 4156 14730 Q.V.M. specimen 15 Cape Grim (on beach) 4041 14441 Q.V.M. specimen 16 Cape Portland 4145 14756 N.B. sighting 17 Coldwater Creek, Lalla 4116 14708 Q.V.M. specimen 18 Conara Junction 4150 14726 N.B. sighting 19 Corinna 4139 14505 N.J.M. sighting 20 Cradle Mountain (2) 4142 14557 Q.V.M. specimen 21 Cressy 4142 14705 N.J.M. sighting 22 Dee River 4220 14637 N.B. sighting 23 Deloraine 4132 14639 Q.V.M. specimen 24 Derwent Bridge, 5 km East of 4208 14613 N.B. sighting roadkill 25 Dilston (2) 4120 14705 Q.V.M. specimen, roadkill sighting T.J.S. 26 Dover 4319 14701 N.B. sighting 27 East Tamar Highway near Mt. Direction 4115 14701 Q.V.M. specimen 28 Eddystone Point 4100 14821 N.J.M. sighting 29 Elliot Bay 4358 14534 S.C. sighting 30 Frome River, 5 km south east of Moorina 4109 14736 N.B. sighting 31 Gladstone, 1 km Pioneer side of 4058 14802 N.B. sighting 32 Gladstone (2) 4058 14801 N.B. sighting 33 Goshen 4117 14806 live caught, Examiner clipping (photo) 34 Goulds Country 4115 14804 N.B. sighting 35 Granville Head, 2 km inland 4154 14503 N.B. sighting 36 Herrick 4106 14758 N.B. sighting 37 Hollybank 4119 14712 Q.V.M. specimen 38 Kenneth Bay (2) 4124 14447 N.J.M. sighting 39 Kimberley, 2 km west of 4123 14624 N.B. sighting 40 King River, mouth of 4212 14522 N.J.M. sighting 41 Lake Lea 4131 14555 N.B. sighting 42 Latrobe 4115 14625 Q.V.M. specimen 43 Legg's Tor 4133 14740 N.B. sighting 44 Liffey (2) 4142 14651 Q.V.M. specimen 45 Lilydale (3) 4115 14713 2 Q.V.M. specimen 1 N.B. roadkill 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 10i 10 10 : 10 : 10 - Tasmanian Naturalist January 1990 Luina 4124 14524 Macquarie Plains 4243 14654 Maggs Mountain (3) 4142 14612 Marrawah, Togari, Redpa Road (6) 4056 14400 Mole Creek 4133 14625 Mt. Arrowsmith 4213 14604 Mt. Barrow 4122 14724 Mt. Direction 4115 14701 Mt. William National Park (22) 4055 14810 Near Georgetown (2) 4106 14649 Near Mt. Dundas 4154 14530 Near Rocky Cape 4051 14530 Near Smithton (6) 4051 14507 Near St. Columba Falls 4119 14755 Nelson Creek 4119 14707 Nile Road 4140 14722 Nile, 1 km south of 4140 14722 North Lillydale 4114 14714 Notley Hills 4121 14655 Ocean Beach 4209 4209 14516 Parrawee, 1 km south of 4119 14535 Patterson ia 4121 14718 Penguin 4137 14604 Perth 4134 14710 Pleasant Banks Evandale 4134 14715 Road between Waterhouse Pt. & Tomahawk turnoff 4054 14739 Rocherlea 4123 14708 Royal George 4150 14753 Royal George, 4 kms east of 4149 14755 Sandy Cape 4125 14445 Seymour Hill 4058 14446 Sir John Falls 4235 14543 Somerset (2) 4102 14550 Stonehenge, 1 km west of (2) 4224 14737 Strahan 4209 14519 Strahan, 5 km from 4209 14520 Tam O Shanter Bay 4057 14544 Tarraleah (2) 4218 14627 Temma 4114 14443 Temma, 4 km south east of 4116 14444 Togari tip 4056 14451 Triabunna 4230 14754 Trial Harbour (4) 4156 14511 Turners Marsh 4117 14706 Underwood (5) 4117 14712 Upper Gordon River 4234 14541 Valley Beach 4042 14440 Waratah (2) 4127 14532 Welcome River 4046 14445 Weldborough 4112 14754 West Point 4057 14434 Whalers Cove 4318 14553 White Hills (2) 4130 14715 Windamere turnoff (2) 4120 14703 Winnaleah 4106 14750 Woolnorth 4047 14445 Wyena 4110 14716 Zeehan (2) 4154 14521 3 km south of Stanley 4046 14518 N.J.M. trapped T.M.A.G. specimen Q.V.M. specimen N.J.M. roadkill Q.V.M. specimen Q.V.M. specimen Q.V.M. specimen N.B. sighting Tas. Uni. live trap Q.V.M. specimen N.B. sighting N.B. sighting N.J.M. sighting, roadkill N.B. sighting N.B. sighting roadkill Q.V.M. specimen N.B. sighting Q.V.M. specimen Q.V.M. specimen N.J.M. sighting N.J.M. roadkill Q.V.M. specimen Q.V.M. specimen Q.V.M. specimen Q.V.M. specimen Q.V.M. specimen Roadkill sighting I.N. N.B. sighting N.J.M. trapped N.J.M. sighting N.B. sighting N.B. sighting Q.V.M. specimen N.J.M. trapped N.J.M. sighting N.B. sighting roadkill Q.V.M. specimen T.M.A.G. specimen N.J.M. sighting N.J.M. sighting N.J.M. sighting T.M.A.G. specimen N.J.M. sighting N.B. sighting Q.V.M. specimen N.B. sighting N.B. sighting N.J.M. sighting, roadkill N.B. sighting Q.V.M. specimen N.B. sighting N.B. sighting N.J.M. roadkill N.J.M. roadkill Q.V.M. specimen N.B. sighting roadkill Q.V.M. specimen T.M.A.G. specimen N.J.M. road kill JL 'Ots