NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Stripe-faced Dunnart
Sminthopsis macroura (Gould, 1845)
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
The striped-faced dunnart (Sminthopsis macroura) is a small, Australian, nocturnal, "marsupial mouse," part of the family Dasyuridae. The species' distribution occurs throughout much of inland central and northern Australia, occupying a range of arid and semi-arid habitats. While the species has a broad distribution range, it has been declining across much of Australia, including the western region of New South Wales (NSW). This is due to several threatening processes, primarily habitat degradation. This has led to the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage listing the species as 'vulnerable'. The species is not listed on the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act). The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species list the species as of 'least concern'. Recent genetic studies have discovered that this dunnart species is in fact three distinct species that over several million years diverged from each other. However, because they are difficult to distinguish, they tend to be treated as a single species.
Wikipedia contributors, Stripe-faced dunnart; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T07:42:33.106736+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Sminthopsis macroura (Gould, 1845)
- Name authority
- (Gould, 1845)
- Common name
- Stripe-faced Dunnart
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Dasyuromorphia
- Family
- Dasyuridae
- Genus
- Sminthopsis
- 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.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classMammalia Linnaeus, 1758
- subclassTheria Parker & Haswell, 1897
- infraclassMetatheria Huxley, 1880
- orderDasyuromorphia Gill, 1872
- familyDasyuridae Goldfuss, 1820
- subfamilySminthopsinae Archer, 1982
- genusSminthopsis Thomas, 1887
- speciesSminthopsis macroura (Gould, 1845)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Sminthopsis. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Fat-tailed DunnartSminthopsis crassicaudata (Gould, 1844) | DasyuridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Little Long-tailed DunnartSminthopsis dolichura Kitchener, Stoddart & Henry, 1984 | DasyuridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Julia Creek DunnartSminthopsis douglasi Archer, 1979 | DasyuridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| White-tailed DunnartSminthopsis granulipes Troughton, 1932 | DasyuridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Gray-bellied DunnartSminthopsis griseoventer Kitchener, Stoddart & Henry, 1984 | DasyuridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Greater Hairy-footed DunnartSminthopsis hirtipes Thomas, 1898 | DasyuridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| White-footed DunnartSminthopsis leucopus (Gray, 1842) | DasyuridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Common DunnartSminthopsis murina (Waterhouse, 1838) | DasyuridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Ooldea DunnartSminthopsis ooldea Troughton, 1965 | DasyuridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Kangaroo Island DunnartSminthopsis aitkeni Kitchener, Stoddart & Henry, 1984 | DasyuridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Chestnut DunnartSminthopsis archeri Van Dyck, 1986 | DasyuridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Kakadu DunnartSminthopsis bindi Van Dyck, Woinarski & Press, 1994 | DasyuridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Podabrus macrourus Gould, 1845 Gould, 1845 | synonym |
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.
- https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=552648 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:4XWZH. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.