Spotted-tail Quoll

Open encyclopedia reference

The tiger quoll (Dasyurus maculatus), also known as the spotted-tailed quoll, spotted quoll, spotted-tailed dasyure, or tiger cat, is a carnivorous marsupial of the quoll genus Dasyurus native to Australia. With males and females weighing around 3.5 and 1.8 kg (7.7 and 4.0 lb), respectively, it is the world's second-largest extant carnivorous marsupial, behind the Tasmanian devil. Two subspecies are recognised; the nominate is found in wet forests of southeastern Australia and Tasmania, and a northern subspecies, D. m. gracilis, is found in a small area of northern Queensland and is endangered.

The tiger quoll commonly preys on small mammals, insects, birds, domestic poultry and large marsupials such as wombats. It mostly hunts live prey but occasionally scavenges when the opportunity arises. The tiger quoll kills its prey by executing a killing bite to the base of the skull or top of the neck, depending on the size of the prey. The species is listed as near-threatened on the IUCN Red List, and is primarily threatened by habitat loss caused by human activities.

Wikipedia contributors, Tiger quoll; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T06:58:21.492416+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Dasyurus maculatus (Kerr, 1792)

Name authority

(Kerr, 1792)

Common name

Spotted-tail Quoll

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Mammalia

Order

Dasyuromorphia

Family

Dasyuridae

Genus

Dasyurus

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. genusDasyurus É. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1796
16. speciesDasyurus maculatus (Kerr, 1792)

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Dasyurus. 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=552609 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.

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:6CF7K. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.