NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Purple-necked Rock Wallaby
Petrogale purpureicollis Le Souef, 1924
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 purple-necked rock-wallaby (Petrogale purpureicollis) is a species of rock-wallaby first described in 1924 by Albert Sherbourne Le Souef, then director of the Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia, who noted a purple colouration around the neck and cranial features that distinguish it from other rock-wallaby species.
The purple colouration was thought by some sceptical scientists to be due to the animal rubbing against a dye, but the animal does in fact secrete a purple pigment. The pigment is known to wash off in the rain and fade away after death, causing some possible confusion with other rock-wallaby species.
The species has undergone taxonomic upheaval for decades and has variously been classified as an unadorned rock-wallaby, brush-tailed rock-wallaby, and black-flanked rock-wallaby. Le Souef and others have asserted that it was a new species, and this has been affirmed by a 2001 paper in the Australian Journal of Zoology.
Wikipedia contributors, Purple-necked rock-wallaby; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T11:27:39.738599+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Petrogale purpureicollis Le Souef, 1924
- Name authority
- Le Souef, 1924
- Common name
- Purple-necked Rock Wallaby
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Diprotodontia
- Family
- Macropodidae
- Genus
- Petrogale
- 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
- orderDiprotodontia Owen, 1866
- suborderMacropodiformes Ameghino, 1889
- familyMacropodidae Gray, 1821
- subfamilyMacropodinae Gray, 1821
- genusPetrogale Gray, 1837
- speciesPetrogale purpureicollis Le Souef, 1924
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Petrogale. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Black-flanked Rock WallabyPetrogale lateralis Gould, 1842 | MacropodidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Cape York Rock WallabyPetrogale coenensis Eldredge & Close, 1992 | MacropodidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| NabarlekPetrogale concinna Gould, 1842 | MacropodidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Rothschild's Rock WallabyPetrogale rothschildi Thomas, 1904 | MacropodidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Herbert's Rock WallabyPetrogale herberti Thomas, 1926 | MacropodidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Unadorned Rock WallabyPetrogale inornata Gould, 1842 | MacropodidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
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=709412 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:6V6BM. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.