Northern Bettong: Bettongia tropica

The Northern Bettong is a small, delicate macropod that feasts on 'truffles'. It occurs in discrete, often surprisingly restricted, populations on Mt Windsor Tableland, Mt Carbine Tableland, Lamb Range and Mt Zero, at elevations between 800 and 1200 metres. Unconfirmed sightings suggest that populations may exist between the Lamb Range and Mt Zero and, given one 1884 record from the Dawson Valley, there is always hope that it will be rediscovered further south. Densities of four to seven animals per square kilometre occur on the lamb range, where it is known from an area measuring about 25 kilometres long by 3 kilometres wide. In contrast, the Mt Windsor population remains undetected since the last record in 2003. The Mt Carbine population is known from an area with a diameter of around one kilometre. At Mt Zero, the population is the poorest known but, in density and area, would probably lie somewhere between figures for the Lamb Range and other populations. Genetically, the population is divided into northern and southern races that overlap at Emu Creek, halfway along the Lamb Range.