Crest-tailed Mulgara

Open encyclopedia reference

The crest-tailed mulgara (Dasycercus cristicauda) was a small Australian carnivorous marsupial. It was previously recognised as a senior synonym of the ampurta (D. hillieri), but is now believed to be a separate extinct taxon. The same investigation also described the southern mulgara (D. archeri), and the northern mulgara (D. wolleyae), which were split from D. cristicauda. As a result of the taxonomic changes to this taxon, it is believed that D. cristicauda is now only known from subfossil specimens and the single live caught holotype specimen.

Kreft, 1867, first described the species as 'Chaetocercus cristicauda' in 1877 based on a single specimen collected from southern Australia.

Wikipedia contributors, Crest-tailed mulgara; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T07:42:16.920872+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Dasycercus cristicauda (Krefft, 1867)

Name authority

(Krefft, 1867)

Common name

Crest-tailed Mulgara

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Mammalia

Order

Dasyuromorphia

Family

Dasyuridae

Genus

Dasycercus

Extinction status

Recorded extant

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. megaclassTetrapoda
8. classMammalia Linnaeus, 1758
9. subclassTheria Parker & Haswell, 1897
10. infraclassMetatheria Huxley, 1880
11. orderDasyuromorphia Gill, 1872
12. familyDasyuridae Goldfuss, 1820
13. subfamilyDasyurinae Goldfuss, 1820
14. tribeDasyurini Goldfuss, 1820
15. genusDasycercus Peters, 1875
16. speciesDasycercus cristicauda (Krefft, 1867)

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Dasycercus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

Browse 67 records assigned to Dasyuridae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Documented distribution

Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

1. https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=552604 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:347N2. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.