Range extension of the Short-beaked Echidna Tachyglossus aculeatus (Monotremata: Tachyglossidae) and the Northern Brown Bandicoot Isoodon macrourus (Marsupialia: Peramelidae) in Queensland: Mua (Moa Island), Torres Strait

Abstract

Until recently there have been no confirmed records of medium-sized native terrestrial mammals from the Torres Strait Islands, far north Queensland. The Short-beake Echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus Shaw, 1792) and the Northern Brown Bandicoot(Isoodon macrourus Gould, 1842) are reported here occurring on Mua (Moa Island). This is the most northerly known occurrence of these species in Australia; both also occur in New Guinea.