The lesser bilby (Macrotis leucura), also known as the yallara, the lesser rabbit-eared bandicoot or the white-tailed rabbit-eared bandicoot, is an extinct rabbit-like marsupial. The species was first described by Oldfield Thomas as Peregale leucura in 1887 from a single specimen from a collection of mammals of the British Museum. Reaching the size of a young rabbit, this species lived in the deserts of Central Australia. Since the 1950s–1960s, it has been believed to be extinct.
Taxonomy
A description of the species by Oldfield Thomas was published in 1887, using a specimen forwarded to the British Museum "J. Beazley" of Adelaide, collected at an unknown location; the author determined that the source of the specimen was from the Northern Territory or the vicinity of the southern city of Adelaide. Oldfield Thomas recognized an affinity with the "rabbit-bandicoot" Macrotis lagotis, then described by the genus Peragale, but found distinctions in the specimens that described a new species. also recognised as a synonym.
The treatment of the genus was again reviewed by Finlayson in 1935.
The names for the species include white-tailed bilby. Its fur colour ranged from pale yellowish-brown to grey-brown with pale white or yellowish-white fur on its belly, with white limbs and tail. The tail of this animal was long, about 70% of its total head-body length.
Macrotis have long fur with a silky texture, the species have long tails and mobile ears that resemble those of a common rabbit (lagomorphs); they are burrowing animals that have long and narrow muzzles. The overall coloration of this species was more subdued than the bilby, Macrotis lagotis, and smaller in size; the shorter ears of M. leucura measured 63 mm from base to tip. The underside of the tail had a greyish patch at the base, but the long and bushy fur is otherwise white.
An illustration reconstructing the animal in its native setting was painted by Peter Schouten.
Distribution and habitat
Very little is known about its former range and distribution, as the species was collected only six times in modern history, with the first of these coming from an unknown region.
In modern times this species was endemic to the Gibson and Great Sandy deserts of arid central Australia and northeast South Australia and adjoining southeast Northern Territory in the northern half of the Lake Eyre Basin. and that giving birth to twins was normal for this species. Although according to Finlayson this animal was abundant in that area,
Indigenous Australian oral tradition suggests that this species possibly survived into the 1960s.