Myrmecobiidae Skull Replica measures 2.5 inches. Myrmecobiidae Skull Replica is museum quality replica polyurethane cast. Made in USA. 2-part skull (separate cranium & jaw). Known as the Numbat banded Anteater.
The Myrmecobiidae is an insectivorous marsupial native to Western Australia and recently re-introduced to South Australia. The species is also known as Noombat or Walpurti.
The species was once widespread across southern Australia, but is now restricted to several small colonies in Western Australia.
It is therefore considered an endangered species and protected by conservation programs. Myrmecobiidae were recently re-introduced to fenced reserves in South Australia and New South Wales. The numbat is the faunal emblem of Western Australia.
Today, Numbats or Myrmecobiidae are naturally found only in areas of eucalypt forest, but they were once more widespread in other types of semiarid woodland, spinifex grassland, and in terrain dominated by sand dune. There are estimated to be fewer than 1,000 left in the wild.
After measures aimed at excluding feral cats, the number of numbats trapped during annual population surveys in the Dryandra Woodland had increased to 35 by November 2020, after recording just 10 in 2019 and 5 in 2018.
The Numbat-Banded Anteater or Myrmecobiidae diet consists almost exclusively of termites.
The Myrmecobiidae is a small, colorful creature between 14 and 18 in. long, including the tail, with a finely pointed muzzle and a prominent, bushy tail about the same length as its body.
Color varies considerably, from soft grey to reddish-brown, often with an area of brick red on the upper back, and always with a black stripe running from the tip of the muzzle through the eyes to the bases of the small, round-tipped ears.
Between four and eleven white stripes cross the animal’s hindquarters, which gradually become fainter towards the mid-back.
The underside is cream or light grey, while the tail is covered with long, grey hair flecked with white.
Unlike most other marsupials, the Myrmecobiidae is diurnal, largely because of the constraints of having a specialized diet without having the usual physical equipment for it.
Most ecosystems with a generous supply of termites have a fairly large creature with powerful forelimbs bearing heavy claws.
Myrmecobiidae are not large, and they have five toes on the fore feet, and four on the hind feet.
Like other mammals that eat termites or ants, the Myrmecobiidae has a degenerate jaw with up to 50 very small, nonfunctional teeth, and although it is able to chew, rarely does so, because of the soft nature of its diet.
Like many ant- or termite-eating animals, the Myrmecobiidae has a long and narrow tongue coated with sticky saliva produced by large submandibular glands.
A further adaptation to the diet is the presence of numerous ridges along the soft palate, which help to scrape termites off the tongue so they can be swallowed.
The Myrmecobiidae synchronises its day with termite activity, which is temperature dependent: in winter, it feeds from midmorning to midafternoon; in summer, it rises earlier, takes shelter during the heat of the day, and feeds again in the late afternoon.
They are able to enter a state of torpor, which may last up to fifteen hours a day during the winter months.
The digestive system is relatively simple, and lacks many of the adaptations found in other entomophagous animals, presumably because termites are easier to digest than ants, having a softer exoskeleton.
Although they find termite mounds primarily using scent, it has the highest visual acuity of any marsupial, and, unusually for marsupials, has a high proportion of cone cells in the retina.
These are both likely adaptations for its diurnal habits, and vision does appear to be the primary sense used to detect potential predators.
Myrmecobiidae are able to gain a considerable amount of water from their diets, since their kidneys lack the usual specialisations for retaining water found in other animals living in their arid environment. Noombats also possess a sternal scent gland, which is used for marking their territories.
Uniquely among terrestrial mammals, they an additional cheek tooth located between the premolars and molars; whether this represents a supernumerary molar tooth or a deciduous tooth retained into adult life is unclear.
