A taxonomic revision of the Bettongia penicillata (Diprotodontia: Potoroidae) species complex and description of the subfossil species Bettongia haoucharae sp. nov.
Bibliographic record
Abstract
The woylie (Bettongia penicillata ogilbyi) is a critically endangered potoroid marsupial from the southwest of Western Australia that has been the focus of conservation efforts over the past few decades. Investigations have focused on methods to improve the conservation of the species, including genetic sampling and mapping to better understand their apparent intraspecific diversity and distribution. Most studies have focused on genetic tools to understand the taxon. However, few studies have used subfossil specimens to inform conservation strategies. Apparently genetically distinct subfossil specimens of woylies on the Nullarbor have previously been proposed to represent a new species. In this investigation we use craniodental morphological characters to assess the validity of this species, as well as review the Bettongia penicillata complex as a whole. This investigation used subfossil, modern and historical specimens from museum collections to ensure the broadest coverage for the taxon. This investigation supports the validity of the previously genetically defined Nullarbor species based on unique morphological characters, which is described and named herein as Bettongia haoucharae sp. nov. Furthermore, our analyses suggest that B. p. ogilbyi should be given full species status. After a thorough redescription of craniodental and some postcranial elements, we established (i) Bettongia ogilbyi ogilbyi comb. nov., (ii) an additional two new subspecies, and (iii) a previously synonymised subspecies within the B. penicillata complex. These results highlight the need for a combined approach to taxonomy, with most of the genetic work on B. penicillata in recent years being restricted to living individuals. Our results reveal that B. penicillata can be considered extinct, B. o. ogilbyi is critically endangered with a single individual in the Kanyana Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre and a wild population in the Tutanning Nature Reserve remaining, B. o. sylvatica is critically endangered but recovering as it has been translocated throughout Australia, and B. o. francisca, and B. o. odontoploica are extinct. Future taxonomic work should aim to combine morphology and molecular work using subfossil, modern and historical specimens for a complete understanding of species.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.002 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.002 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".