Long-footed Potoroo

Taxobox
name = Long-footed PotorooMSW3 Groves|pages=58]
status = EN
status_system = iucn3.1
status_ref = IUCN2006 | assessors = Australasian Marsupial & Monotreme Specialist Group | year = 1996 | id = 18102 | title = Potorous longipes | downloaded = 31 December 2006]


regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Mammalia
infraclassis = Marsupialia
ordo = Diprotodontia
familia = Potoroidae
genus = "Potorous"
species = "P. longipes"
binomial = "Potorous longipes"
binomial_authority = Seebeck & Johnson, 1980

The Long-footed Potoroo ("Potorous longipes") is a species of potoroo found in southeastern Australia, in a small area around the coastal border between New South Wales and Victoria. It was discovered in 1967 when an adult male was caught in a dog trap in the forest southwest of Bonang, Victoria. [cite book|author=Karl Shuker, Gerald Durrell, |title=Lost Ark: New and Rediscovered Animals of the Twentieth Century|publisher=HarperCollins Publishers|year=1993|pages=83|isbn=0-00-219943-2] It is classified as endangered.

The Long-footed Potoroo is the largest potoroo, and is very similar to the Long-nosed Potoroo ("Potorous tridactylus"). It is a solitary nocturnal creature, feeding on fungi, vegetation and small invertebrates. It differs from the Long-nosed Potoroo in its larger feet and longer tail.cite book|last=Menkhorst|first=Peter|year=2001|title=A Field Guide to the Mammals of Australia|publisher=Oxford University Press|pages=100]

Current threats to the species include predation by introduced feral cats and foxes, as well as logging within its limited range (such as the accidental felling of up to 400 square metres in the Errinundra National Park, East Gippsland in September 2005.) [cite news | last = Morton | first = Adam | title = Logging blunders to be investigated: environmentalists urge prosecution | work = The Age (Melbourne) | page = 6 | date = 2005-10-03]

References

External links

* [http://www.arkive.org/species/GES/mammals/Potorous_longipes/ Images and movies of Long-footed Potoroo at ARKive]
* [http://www.fnpw.org.au/OurProjects/Plants_Wildlife/Long_Footed_Potoroo.htm Foundation for National Parks & Wildlife]