Two new Australian mammal species just dropped – and they are very small

August 16, 2023 5:39 PM

Two new Australian mammal species just dropped – and they are very small. Some planigales weigh less than a teaspoonful of water. Despite their size, these fierce predators often take on prey as big as themselves. To date, there are four known species of planigale found across Australia. We have recently discovered another two species, both inhabitants of the Pilbara region of northwest Western Australia: the orange-headed Pilbara planigale (Planigale kendricki) and the cracking-clay Pilbara planigale (P. tealei).
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries (18 comments total)

Oh! They look like marsupial shrews!
posted by mollweide at 5:46 PM on August 16, 2023 [1 favorite]

Squeeeeeeeee
posted by supermedusa at 6:19 PM on August 16, 2023

TINY FLATHEADED MURDER MICE!
posted by praemunire at 6:21 PM on August 16, 2023 [12 favorites]

The name planigale translates to “flat weasel”,

Rude!
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:23 PM on August 16, 2023 [2 favorites]

Why is it that all Australian fauna seem to have a predilection towards knifey-spooney?
posted by NoxAeternum at 6:32 PM on August 16, 2023 [3 favorites]

Ｆｌａｔ ｂｏｉ ｉｓ ｆｌａｔ
posted by lalochezia at 6:47 PM on August 16, 2023 [3 favorites]

I believe you have misspelled 's m o l'
posted by The otter lady at 6:55 PM on August 16, 2023 [5 favorites]

And thus I learn there are other mammals known as marsupial shrews. Ain't convergent evolution grand?
posted by mollweide at 7:46 PM on August 16, 2023 [2 favorites]

Oh the authors are at QUT; I was very recently visiting their ecology department, but didn't cross paths with these two... Perhaps they were off in the field.
posted by kaibutsu at 8:10 PM on August 16, 2023

If there weren't pictures, CPBC, I'd swear you were just starting to make this stuff up.
Still not entirely convinced.
Also, you're making a run for the Mefi MVP (Most Valuable Poster) award. Thanks!
posted by martin q blank at 8:21 PM on August 16, 2023 [7 favorites]

When does the Planigales Dance Party video drop?
posted by Windopaene at 8:43 PM on August 16, 2023 [3 favorites]

I was fine with the Kangaroos and Bandicoots and Cassowaries but now Australia is just making up new fantasy Pokemon mice for me to collect.

Thanks Chariot for making MeFi awesome lately.
posted by mmoncur at 9:22 PM on August 16, 2023 [6 favorites]

TINY FLATHEADED MURDER MICE!

Settle down. This post is about our marsupials, not our right-wing parliamentarians.
posted by flabdablet at 11:10 PM on August 16, 2023 [7 favorites]

So smol, so soft, so pointy and cute!! 🥹
posted by kitten kaboodle at 4:28 AM on August 17, 2023 [2 favorites]

I greatly admire the snout of the orange-headed Pilbara planigale (Planigale kendricki).

That is all.
posted by virago at 5:05 AM on August 17, 2023

Why have these species only been described now?

The process of describing these two new species was actually started more than 20 years ago, by scientists who were working at the Western Australian Museum at the time.

That seems a somewhat brief and vague answer when scientists have been cataloguing animal species for maybe two centuries, the ancestors of the aboriginal Australians arrived some 60,000 years ago, and the flat weasels preceded both.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:18 AM on August 17, 2023

More than 20 years? Must be one long description.
posted by Pyrogenesis at 6:37 AM on August 17, 2023

I'm especially fond of the silky fur on the orange-headed Pilbara planigale.
posted by Nancy Lebovitz at 6:56 AM on August 17, 2023