banded ant-eater

Dictionary of Australasian Words Phrases and Usages by Edward E. Morris

n.


name given to a smallterrestrial and ant-eating marsupial, Myrmecobiusfasciatus, Waterh, found in West and South Australia. Itis the only species of the genus, and is regarded as the mostclosely allied of all living marsupials to the extinctmarsupials of the Mesozoic Age in Europe. It receives its namebanded from the presence along the back of a well-marked seriesof dark transverse bands.

1871. G. Krefft, `Mammals of Australia':

«The Myrmecobius is common on the West Coast and in theinterior of New South Wales and South Australia: theMurrumbidgee River may be taken as its most eastern boundary.»

1893. A. R. Wallace, `Australasia,' p. 340:

«Thus we have here [W. Australia] alone the curious littlebanded ant-eater ( Myrmecobius fasciatus), which presentsthe nearest approach in its dentition to the most ancient knownmammals whose remains are found in the oolite and Trias of theMesozoic epoch.»

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