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<document>
<title>Fauna of Australia</title>
<authors>Wikipedia</authors>
<publisher>wikipedia.org</publisher>
<publishedplace>network</publishedplace>
<publishedyear>2010</publishedyear>
<edition></edition>
<category>Spoken articles</category>
<section id="10372" fatherid="0" title="" lv="" priority="-1" level="1">
The fauna of Australia consists of a huge variety of unique animals; some 83% of mammals, 89% of reptiles, 90% of fish and insects and 93% of amphibians that inhabit the continent are endemic to Australia.Williams, J. et al. 2001. Biodiversity, Australia State of the Environment Report 2001 (Theme Report), CSIRO Publishing on behalf of the Department of the Environment and Heritage, Canberra. ISBN 0-643-06749-3 .pdf This high level of endemism can be attributed to the continent's long geographic isolation, tectonic stability, and the effects of an unusual pattern of climate change on the soil and flora over geological time. A unique feature of Australia's fauna is the relative scarcity of native placental mammals. Consequently the marsupials-a group of mammals that raise their young in a pouch, including the macropods, possums and dasyuromorphs-occupy many of the ecological niches placental animals occupy elsewhere in the world. Australia is home to two of the five known extant species of monotremes and has numerous venomous species, which include the Platypus, spiders, scorpions, octopus, jellyfish, molluscs, stonefish, and stingrays. Uniquely, Australia has more venomous than non-venomous species of snakes.
The settlement of Australia by Indigenous Australians more than 40,000 years ago, and by Europeans from 1788, has significantly affected the fauna. Hunting, the introduction of non-native species, and land-management practices involving the modification or destruction of habitats have led to numerous extinctions.  Some examples include the Paradise Parrot, Pig-footed Bandicoot and the Broad-faced Potoroo. Unsustainable land use still threatens the survival of many species. To target threats to the survival of its fauna, Australia has passed wide-ranging federal and state legislation and established numerous protected areas.

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<section id="10373" fatherid="0" title="Origins" lv="" priority="-2" level="1">
Both geologic and climatic events helped to make Australia's fauna unique. Australia was once part of the southern supercontinent Gondwana, which also included South America, Africa, India and Antarctica. Gondwana began to break up 140 million years ago (MYA); 50 MYA Australia separated from Antarctica and was relatively isolated until the collision of the Indo-Australian Plate with Asia in the Miocene era 5.3 MYA. The establishment and evolution of the present-day fauna was apparently shaped by the unique climate and the geology of the continent. As Australia drifted, it was, to some extent, isolated from the effects of global climate change. The unique fauna that originated in Gondwana, such as the marsupials, survived and adapted in Australia.
After the Miocene, fauna of Asian origin were able to establish themselves in Australia. The Wallace Line—the hypothetical line separating the zoogeographical regions of Asia and Australasia—marks the tectonic boundary between the Eurasian and Indo-Australian plates. This continental boundary prevented the formation of land bridges and resulted in a distinct zoological distribution, with limited overlap, of most Asian and Australian fauna, with the exception of birds. Following the emergence of the circumpolar current in the mid-Oligocene era (some 15 MYA), the Australian climate became increasingly arid, giving rise to a diverse group of arid-specialised organisms, just as the wet tropical and seasonally wet areas gave rise to their own uniquely adapted species.

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<section id="10374" fatherid="0" title="Mammals" lv="" priority="3" level="1">
Australia has a rich mammalian fossil history, as well as a variety of extant mammalian species, dominated by the marsupials. The fossil record shows that monotremes have been present in Australia since the Early Cretaceous 145-99 MYA,
Archer, M. et al., 1985. First Mesozoic mammal from Australia-an early Cretaceous monotreme. Nature 318:363–366 and that marsupials and placental mammals date from the Eocene 56-34 MYA,
Godthelp, H. et al. 1992. Earliest known Australian Tertiary mammal fauna. Nature, 356:514–516  when modern mammals first appeared in the fossil record. Although marsupials and placental mammals did coexist in Australia in the Eocene, only marsupials have survived to the present. The placental mammals made their reappearance in Australia in the Miocene, when Australia moved closer to Indonesia, and bats and rodents started to appear reliably in the fossil record. The marsupials evolved to fill specific ecological niches, and in many cases they are physically similar to the placental mammals in Eurasia and North America that occupy similar niches, a phenomenon known as convergent evolution.Townsend, C.R. et al. 2002. The Ecology of Evolution, in Essentials of Ecology 2nd edition.  Blackwell Publishers ISBN 1-4051-0328-0 For example, the top predator in Australia, the Tasmanian Tiger, bore a striking resemblance to canids such as the Gray Wolf; gliding possums and flying squirrels have similar adaptations enabling their arboreal lifestyle; and the Numbat and anteaters are both digging insectivores.

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<section id="10375" fatherid="0" title="Birds" lv="" priority="4" level="1">
Australia and its territories are home to over 800 species of bird; about 350 of these are endemic to the zoogeographic region that covers Australia, New Guinea and New Zealand. The fossil record of birds in Australia is patchy; however, there are records of the ancestors of contemporary species as early as the Late Oligocene.
Australian Museum. 2001. Fossil history of birds: fossil history overview Birds with a Gondwanan history include the flightless ratites (the Emu and Southern Cassowary), megapodes (the Malleefowl and Australian Brush-turkey), and a huge group of endemic parrots, order Psittaciformes. Australian parrots comprise a sixth of the world’s parrots, including many cockatoos and galahs. The Kookaburra is the largest species of the kingfisher family, known for its call, which sounds uncannily like loud, echoing human laughter.
The passerines of Australia, also known as songbirds or perching birds, include wrens, robins, the magpie group, thornbills, pardalotes, the huge honeyeater family, treecreepers, lyrebirds, Birds of Paradise and bowerbirds. The Satin Bowerbird is a fascinating bird that has attracted the interest of evolutionary psychologists: it has a complex courtship ritual in which the male creates a bower filled with blue, shiny items to woo mates.
Relatively recent colonists from Eurasia are swallows, larks, thrushes, cisticolas, sunbirds, and some raptors, including  the large Wedge-tailed Eagle. A number of bird species have been introduced by humans; some, like the European Goldfinch and Greenfinch, coexist happily with Australian species, while others, such as the Common Starling, Common Blackbird, House Sparrow and Indian Mynah, are destructive of some native bird species and thus destabilise the native ecosystem.
About 200 species of seabird live on the Australian coast, including many species of migratory seabird. Australia is at the southern end of the East Asian-Australasian flyway for migratory water birds, which extends from Far-East Russia and Alaska through Southeast Asia to Australia and New Zealand. About two million birds travel this route to and from Australia each year. One very common large seabird is the Australian Pelican, which can be found in most waterways in Australia. The Little Penguin is the only species of penguin that breeds on mainland Australia.

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<section id="10376" fatherid="0" title="Amphibians and reptiles" lv="" priority="-5" level="1">
Australia has four families of native frogs and one introduced toad, the Cane Toad. In 1935 the Cane Toad was introduced to Australia in a failed attempt to control pests in sugarcane crops.  It has since become a devastating pest, spreading across northern Australia. As well as competing with native insectivores for food, the Cane Toad produces a venom that is toxic to native fauna, as well as to humans. The Myobatrachidae, or southern frogs, are Australia's largest group of frogs, with 120 species from 21 genera. A notable member of this group is the colourful and endangered Corroboree Frog. The tree frogs, from family Hylidae, are common in high rainfall areas on the north and east coasts; there are 77 Australian species from three genera. The 18 species from two genera of the Microhylidae frogs are restricted to the rainforests; the smallest species, the Scanty Frog, is from this family. There is a single species from the world's dominant frog group, family Ranidae - the Australian Wood Frog - which only occurs in the Queensland rainforests. As elsewhere, there has been a precipitous decline in Australia's frog populations in recent years.  Although the full reasons for the decline are uncertain, it can be at least partly attributed to the fatal amphibian fungal disease chytridiomycosis.
Australia has both saltwater and freshwater crocodiles. The Saltwater Crocodile, known colloquially as the "salty," is the largest living crocodile species; reaching over 7 m and weighing over 1,000 kg, they can and do kill people. They live on the coast and in the freshwater rivers and wetlands of northern Australia, and they are farmed for their meat and leather. Freshwater Crocodiles, found only in Northern Australia, are not considered dangerous to humans.
The Australian coast is visited by six species of sea turtle: the Flatback, Green Sea, Hawksbill, Olive Ridley, Loggerhead and the Leatherback Sea Turtles; all are protected in Australian waters. There are 29 species of Australian freshwater turtles from eight genera of family Chelidae. The Pig-nosed Turtle is the only Australian member of that family. Australia and Antarctica are the only continents without any living species of land tortoise.
Australia is the only continent where venomous snakes outnumber their non-venomous cousins. Australian snakes belong to seven families.  Of these, the most venomous species, including the Fierce Snake, Eastern Brown Snake, Taipan and Eastern Tiger Snake are from the family Elapidae. Of the 200 species of elapid, 86 are found only in Australia. Thirty-three sea snakes from family Hydrophiidae inhabit Australia's northern waters; many are extremely venomous. Two species of sea snake from the Acrochordidae also occur in Australian waters. Australia has only 11 species from the world's most significant snake family Colubridae; none are endemic, and they are considered to be relatively recent arrivals from Asia. There are 15 python species and 31 species of insectivorous blind snake.
There are more lizards in Australia than anywhere else in the world, with representatives of five families. There are 114 species in 18 genera of gecko found throughout the Australian continent. The Pygopodidae is a family of limbless lizards endemic to the Australian region; of the 34 species from eight genera, only one species does not occur in Australia. The Agamidae or Dragon lizards are represented by 66 species in 13 genera, including the Thorny Devil, Bearded Dragon and Frill-necked Lizard. There are 26 species of monitor lizard, family Varanidae, in Australia, where they are commonly known as goannas. The largest Australian monitor is the Perentie, which can reach up to 2 m in length. There are 389 species of skink from 38 genera, comprising about 50% of the total Australian lizard fauna; this group includes the blue-tongued lizards.

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<section id="10377" fatherid="0" title="Fish" lv="" priority="6" level="1">
More than 4,400 species of fish inhabit Australia's waterways;CSIRO. 2004. Standard Names of Australian Fish of these, 90% are endemic. However, because of the relative scarcity of freshwater waterways, Australia has only 170 species of freshwater fish. Two families of freshwater fish have ancient origins:  the arowana or "bony tongues," and the Queensland lungfish. The Queensland lungfish is the most primitive of the lungfish, having evolved before Australia separated from Gondwana. One of the smallest freshwater fish, peculiar to the southwest of Western Australia, is the salamanderfish, which can survive desiccation in the dry season by burrowing into mud. Other families with a potentially Gondwanan origin include the Retropinnidae, Galaxiidae, Aplochitonidae and Percichthyidae. Apart from the ancient freshwater species, 70% of Australia's freshwater fish have affinities with tropical Indo-Pacific marine species that have adapted to freshwater.Williams, W.D. and Allen, G.R. 1987. Origins and adaptations of the fauna of inland waters. In D.W. Walton Ed. Fauna of Australia, Volume 1A. Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra. Nevertheless, fossil evidence indicates that many of these freshwater species are still ancient in origin.  These species include freshwater lampreys, herrings, catfish, rainbowfish, and some 50 species of gudgeon, including the Sleepy Cod. Native freshwater game fish include the Barramundi, Murray Cod, and Golden Perch. Two species of endangered freshwater shark are found in the Northern Territory.
Several exotic freshwater fish species, including brown, brook and rainbow trout, Atlantic and Chinook salmon, redfin perch, carp and mosquitofish, have been introduced to Australian waterways.Wager, R. and Jackson, P. 1993. The Action Plan for Australian Freshwater Fishes, Queensland Department of Primary Industries Fisheries Division ISBN 0-642-16818-0  The mosquitofish is a particularly aggressive species known for harassing and nipping the fins of other fish.  It has been linked to declines and localised extinctions of several small native fish species. The introduced trout species have had serious negative impacts on a number of upland native fish species including trout cod, Macquarie perch and galaxias species as well as other upland fauna such as the Spotted Tree Frog. The carp is strongly implicated in the dramatic loss in waterweed, decline of small native fish species and permanently elevated levels of turbidity in the Murray-Darling Basin of southwest Australia.
Most of Australia's fish species are marine. Groups of interest include the moray eels and squirrelfish, as well as the pipefish and seahorses, whose males incubate their partner's eggs in a specialised pouch. There are 80 species of grouper in Australian waters, including one of the world's biggest bony fish, the Giant Grouper, which can grow as large as 2.7 m and weigh up to 400 kg. The trevally, a group of 50 species of silver schooling fish, and the snappers are popular species for commercial fishing. The Great Barrier Reef supports a huge variety of small- and medium-sized reef fish, including the damselfish, butterflyfish, angelfish, gobies, cardinalfish, wrassees, triggerfish and surgeonfish. There are several venomous fish, among them several species of stonefish and pufferfish and the red lionfish, all of which have toxins that can kill humans. There are 11 venomous species of stingray, the largest of which is the smooth stingray. The barracudas are one of the reef's largest species.  However, large reef fish should not be eaten for fear of ciguatera poisoning.
Sharks inhabit all the coastal waters and estuarine habitats of Australia’s coast. There are 166 species, including 30 species of requiem shark, 32 of catshark, six of wobbegong shark, and 40 of dogfish shark. There are three species from the family Heterodontidae: the Port Jackson shark, the zebra bullhead shark and the crested bullhead shark. In 2004, there were 12 unprovoked shark attacks in Australia, of which two were fatal.
International Shark Attack File. 2005. SAF Statistics for the Worldwide Locations with the Highest Shark Attack Activity Since 1990, Florida Museum of Natural History Only 3 species of shark pose a significant threat to humans: the bull shark, the tiger shark and the great white shark. Some popular beaches in Queensland and New South Wales are protected by shark netting, a method that has reduced the population of both dangerous and harmless shark species through accidental entanglement. The overfishing of sharks has also significantly reduced shark numbers in Australian waters, and several species are now endangered. A megamouth shark was found on a Perth beach in 1988; very little is known about this species, but this discovery may indicate the presence of the species in Australian coastal waters.

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<section id="10378" fatherid="0" title="Invertebrates" lv="" priority="7" level="1">
Of the estimated 200,000 animal species in Australia, about 96% are invertebrates. While the full extent of invertebrate diversity is uncertain, 90% of insects and molluscs are considered endemic. Invertebrates occupy many ecological niches and are important in all ecosystems as decomposers, pollinators, and food sources. The largest group of invertebrates is the insects, comprising 75% of Australia's known species of animals. The most diverse insect orders are the Coleoptera, with 28,200 species of beetles and weevils, the Lepidoptera with 20,816 species including butterflies and moths, and 12,781 species of Hymenoptera, including the ants, bees and wasps. Order Diptera, which includes the flies and mosquitoes, comprises 7,786 species, Order Hemiptera, including bugs, aphids and hoppers, comprises 5,650 species; and there are 2,827 species of order Orthoptera, including grasshoppers, crickets and katydids.
CSIRO. Insects and their allies Introduced species that pose a significant threat to native species include the European wasp, the red fire ant, the yellow crazy ant and feral honeybees which compete with native bees.
Australia has a wide variety of arachnids, including 135 species of spider that are familiar enough to have common names. There are numerous highly venomous species, including the notorious Sydney funnel-web and redback spiders, whose bites can be deadly. There are thousands of species of mites and ticks from order Acarina. Australia also has eight species of pseudoscorpion and nine scorpion species.
In the Annelida (sub)class Oligochaeta there are many families of aquatic worms, and for native terrestrial worms: the Enchytraeidae (pot worms) and the "true" earthworms in families Acanthodrilidae, Octochaetidae and Megascolecidae. The latter includes the world's largest earthworm, the giant Gippsland earthworm, found only in Gippsland, Victoria.  On average they reach 80 cm in length, but specimens up to 3.7 m in length have been found. 
The large family Parastacidae includes 124 species of Australian freshwater crayfish. These include the world's smallest crayfish, the swamp crayfish, which does not exceed 30 mm in length, and the world's largest crayfish, the Tasmanian giant freshwater crayfish, measuring up to 76 cm long and weighing 4.5 kg. The crayfish genus Cherax includes the common yabby, in addition to the farmed species marron and Queensland red claw. Species from the genus Engaeus, commonly known as the land crayfish, are also found in Australia. Engaeus species are not entirely aquatic, because they spend most of their lives living in burrows. Australia has seven species of freshwater crab from the genus Austrothelphusa. These crabs live burrowed into the banks of waterways and can plug their burrows, surviving through several years of drought. The extremely primitive freshwater mountain shrimp, found only in Tasmania, are a unique group, resembling species found in the fossil record from 200 MYA.
A huge variety of marine invertebrates are found in Australian waters, with the Great Barrier Reef an important source of this diversity. Families include the Porifera or sea sponges, the Cnidaria (includes the jellyfish, corals and sea anemones, comb jellies), the Echinodermata (includes the sea urchins, sea stars, brittle stars, sea cucumbers, the lamp shells) and the Mollusca (includes snails, slugs, limpets, squid, octopus, cockles, oysters, clams, and chitons). Venomous invertebrates include the box jellyfish, the blue-ringed octopus, and ten species of cone snail, which can cause respiratory failure and death in humans. The crown-of-thorns starfish usually inhabits the Reef at low densities. However, under conditions that are not yet well understood, they can reproduce to reach an unsustainable population density when coral is devoured at a rate faster than it can regenerate. This presents a serious reef management issue. Other problematic marine invertebrates include the native species purple sea-urchin and the white urchin, which have been able to take over marine habitats and form urchin barrens due to the over harvesting of their natural predators which include abalone and rock lobster. Introduced invertebrate pests include the Asian mussel, New Zealand green-lipped mussel, black-striped mussel and the Northern Pacific seastar, all of which displace native shellfish.
There are many unique marine crustaceans in Australian waters. The best-known class, to which all the edible species of crustacean belong, is Malacostraca. The warm waters of northern Australia are home to many species of decapod crustaceans, including crabs, false crabs, hermit crabs, lobsters, shrimps, and prawns. The Peracarids, including the amphipods and isopods, are more diverse in the colder waters of southern Australia. Less-well-known marine groups include the classes Remipedia, Cephalocarida, Branchiopoda, Maxillopoda (which includes the barnacles, copepods and fish lice), and the Ostracoda. Notable species include the Tasmanian giant crab, the second largest crab species in the world, found in deep water, and weighing up to 13 kg, and the Australian spiny lobsters, such as the Western rock lobster, which are distinct from other lobster species as they do not have claws.

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<section id="10379" fatherid="0" title="Invasive species" lv="" priority="8" level="1">
Introduction of exotic fauna in Australia by design, accident and natural processes has led to a considerable number of invasive, feral and pest species which have flourished and now impact the environment adversely. Introduced organisms affect the environment in a number of ways. Rabbits render land economically useless. Red Foxes affect local endemic fauna by predation while the cane toad poisons the predators by being eaten. The invasive species include birds (Indian Mynah) and fish (common carp), insects (red imported fire ant) and molluscs (Asian mussel). The problem is compounded by invasive exotic flora as well as introduced diseases, fungi and parasites.
Costly, laborious and time-consuming efforts at control of these species has met with little success and this continues to be a major problem area in the conservation of Australia's biodiversity.

</section>
<section id="10380" fatherid="0" title="Human impact and conservation" lv="" priority="9" level="1">
For at least 40,000 years, Australia's fauna played an integral role in the traditional lifestyles of Indigenous Australians, who exploited many species as a source of food and skins. Vertebrates commonly harvested included macropods, opossums, seals, fish and the Short-tailed Shearwater, most commonly known as the Muttonbird. Invertebrates used as food included insects like the Bogong moth and larvae collectively called witchetty grubs and molluscs. The use of fire-stick farming, in which large swathes of bushland were burnt to facilitate hunting, modified both flora and fauna - and are thought to have contributed to the extinction of large herbivores with a specialised diet, such as the flightless birds from the genus Genyornis.Miller, G. H. 2005. Ecosystem Collapse in Pleistocene Australia and a Human Role in Megafaunal Extinction. Science, 309:287–290 PMID 16002615 The role of hunting and landscape modification by aboriginal people in the extinction of the Australian megafauna is debated.Thomson, J.M. et al. 1987. Human Exploitation of and Introductions to the Australian Fauna. In D.W. Walton Ed. Fauna of Australia, Volume 1A. Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra.
The impact of Aborigines on native species populations is widely considered to be less significant than that of the European settlers,  whose impact on the landscape has been on a relatively large scale. Since European settlement, direct exploitation of native fauna, habitat destruction and the introduction of exotic predators and competitive herbivores has led to the extinction of some 27 mammal, 23 bird and 4 frog species. Much of Australia's fauna is protected by legislation; a notable exception is kangaroos, which are prolific and are regularly culled. The federal Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 was created to meet Australia's obligations as a signatory to the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity. This act protects all native fauna and provides for the identification and protection of threatened species. In each state and territory, there is statutory listing of threatened species. At present, 380 animal species are classified as either endangered or threatened under the EPBC Act, and other species are protected under state and territory legislation.Department of the Environment and Heritage. EPBC Act List of Threatened Fauna More broadly, a complete cataloguing of all the species within Australia has been undertaken, a key step in the conservation of Australian fauna and biodiversity. In 1973, the federal government established the Australian Biological Resources Study (ABRS), which coordinates research in the taxonomy, identification, classification and distribution of flora and fauna. The ABRS maintains free online databases cataloguing much of the described Australian flora and fauna. Impacts such as the illegal setting of traps in rivers affect animals such as the Australian platypus, along with lack of awareness each year an average of 2-5 Australians lose their lives to what is presumed a safe creature. The key is understanding of Australia's diverse wildlife and fauna, what seems safe is often deadly.
Australia is a member of the International Whaling Commission and is strongly opposed to commercial whaling-all Cetacean species are protected in Australian waters. Australia is also a signatory to the CITES agreement and prohibits the export of endangered species. Protected areas have been created in every state and territory to protect and preserve the country's unique ecosystems. These protected areas include national parks and other reserves, as well as 64 wetlands registered under the Ramsar Convention and 16 World Heritage Sites. As of 2002, 10.8% (774,619.51 km²) of the total land area of Australia is within protected areas.Department of the Environment and Heritage. 2002. Summary of Terrestrial Protected Areas in Australia by Type Protected marine zones have been created in many areas to preserve marine biodiversity; as of 2002, these areas cover about 7% (646,000 km²) of Australia's marine jurisdiction.Department of the Environment and Heritage. 2002. About the National Representative System of Marine Protected Areas (NRSMPA) The Great Barrier Reef is managed by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority under specific federal and state legislation. Some of Australia's fisheries are already overexploited,Newton, G and Boshier, J, eds. 2001. Coasts and Oceans Theme Report, Australia State of the Environment Report 2001 (Theme Report), CSIRO Publishing on behalf of the Department of the Environment and Heritage, Canberra. ISBN 0-643-06749-3 .pdf and quotas have been set for the sustainable harvest of many marine species.
The State of the Environment Report, 2001, prepared by independent researchers for the federal government, concluded that the condition of the environment and environmental management in Australia had worsened since the previous report in 1996. Of particular relevance to wildlife conservation, the report indicated that many processes—such as salinity, changing hydrological conditions, land clearing, fragmentation of ecosystems, poor management of the coastal environment, and invasive species—pose major problems for protecting Australia's biodiversity.Australian State of the Environment Committee. 2001. Australia State of the Environment 2001, Independent Report to the Commonwealth Minister for the Environment and Heritage. CSIRO Publishing on behalf of the Department of the Environment and Heritage ISBN 0-643-06745-0 .pdf

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<section id="10381" fatherid="0" title="See also" lv="" priority="-10" level="1">
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<section id="10382" fatherid="0" title="Notes" lv="" priority="-11" level="1">
<section id="10383" fatherid="10382" title="References" lv="" priority="-1" level="2">
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<section id="10384" fatherid="0" title="External links" lv="" priority="-12" level="1">
Category:Fauna by continent
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