Overview

• Curtin University–led researchers named Bettongia haoucharae from Nullarbor cave remains, with the species known only from mummified material and likely extinct.
• The Zootaxa paper draws on measurements of 193 bettongs in Australian and UK museums and on cave deposits where owl pellets preserved small mammal bones for thousands of years.
• The work revises the woylie complex by distinguishing the brush‑tailed bettong as a separate species and identifying two woylie subspecies known as the forest and the scrub woylie.
• Authors report roughly 12,000 woylies remain and about 4,000 have been translocated, warning that moving the wrong subspecies into unsuitable environments can undermine survival.
• The team says the taxonomy should inform breeding and releases, and they plan to consult Indigenous communities on a collaborative name for the newly described species.