bandicoot

bandicoot, small marsupial mammal native to Australia and nearby islands. There are 19 species in eight genera. Bandicoots have long, pointed, shrewlike faces; gray or brown fur; and long, bushy, ratlike tails. They range in size from that of a rat to that of a rabbit. Their feet are equipped with sharp claws, used for digging food; they feed nocturnally on insects, worms, roots, and vegetables dug from the ground. The second and third toes of the hind legs are bound together and the paired claws are used as a comb for grooming the fur. Bandicoots are able to hop about like rabbits on their strong hind legs, but they also commonly creep on all fours. Bandicoots are classified in the phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, order Marsupialia, family Peramelidae.

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bandicoot

Long-nosed bandicoot (Perameles nasuta).

(credit: Warren Garst—Tom Stack and Associates)

Any of about 22 species of marsupials (family Peramelidae) found in Australia, Tasmania, New Guinea, and nearby islands. Bandicoots are 12–30 in. (30–80 cm) long, including the 4- to 12-in. (10– to 30-cm) sparsely haired tail. They have a stout, coarse-haired body, a tapered muzzle, and hindlimbs longer than their forelimbs. Unlike other marsupials, bandicoots have a placenta. They are terrestrial, solitary animals that dig pits to search for insect and plant food. Farmers consider them pests. All species have declined, and some are now endangered.

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bandicoot

1. any agile terrestrial marsupial of the family Peramelidae of Australia and New Guinea. They have a long pointed muzzle and a long tail and feed mainly on small invertebrates

2. bandicoot rat any of three burrowing rats of the genera Bandicota and Nesokia, of S and SE Asia: family Muridae

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bandicoot [′ban·di‚küt]

(vertebrate zoology)

Any of several large Indian rats of the genusNesokiaand related genera.

Any of several small insectivorous and herbivorous marsupials comprising the family Peramelidae and found in Tasmania, Australia, and New Guinea.