Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 14, 2026

Short-nosed bandicoot

The short-nosed bandicoots are members of the order Peramelemorphia. These marsupials can be found across Australia, although their distribution can be patchy. Genetic evidence suggests that short-nosed bandicoots diverged from the related long-nosed species around eight million years ago, during the Miocene epoch, and underwent a rapid diversification around three million years ago, during the late Pliocene.

Last revised
Jul 14, 2026
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Short-nosed bandicoots1
Southern brown bandicoot Isoodon obesulus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Infraclass: Marsupialia
Order: Peramelemorphia
Family: Peramelidae
Subfamily: Peramelinae
Genus: Isoodon
(Desmarest, 1817)
Type species
Didelphis obesula
Shaw, 1797
Species & subspecies

The short-nosed bandicoots (genus Isoodon) are members of the order Peramelemorphia. These marsupials can be found across Australia, although their distribution can be patchy. Genetic evidence suggests that short-nosed bandicoots diverged from the related long-nosed species around eight million years ago, during the Miocene epoch, and underwent a rapid diversification around three million years ago, during the late Pliocene.2

Species and subspecies

While the IUCN lists only three species in the genus3, Australian sources consider there to be five species of the genus with two subspecies of I. obesulus being elevated to full species status.45

References

References

  1. Groves, C.P. (2005). "Order Peramelemorphia". In Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 39. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
  2. Westerman, M.; Krajewski, C. (2000). "Molecular relationships of the Australian bandicoot genera Isoodon and Perameles (Marsupialia: Peramelina)". Australian Mammalogy. 22 (1): 1–8. doi:10.1071/AM00001.
  3. "Isoodon". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
  4. Schoch, CL; et al. (2020). "Isoodon". NCBI Taxonomy: A Comprehensive Update on Curation, Resources and Tools. 2020. Oxford. doi:10.1093/database/baaa062. PMC 7408187. PMID 32761142.
  5. Travouillon, Kenny J.; Phillips, Matthew J. (2018-02-07). "Total evidence analysis of the phylogenetic relationships of bandicoots and bilbies (Marsupialia: Peramelemorphia): reassessment of two species and description of a new species". Zootaxa. 4378 (2): 224–256. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4378.2.3. ISSN 1175-5334. PMID 29690027.
  6. "Species Isoodon fusciventer (J.E. Gray, 1841)". Australian Faunal Directory. Retrieved 28 March 2026.
  7. "Species Isoodon peninsulae Thomas, 1922". Australian Faunal Directory. Retrieved 28 March 2026.