Numbat

The numbat (Myrmecobius fasciatus), also known as the banded anteater, marsupial anteater, or walpurti, is a marsupialfound in Western Australia. Its diet consists almost exclusively of termites. Once widespread across southern Australia, its range is now restricted to several small colonies, and it is listed as an endangered species.

The numbat is an emblem of Western Australia and protected by The numbat genus Myrmecobius is the sole member of the family Myrmecobiidae, one of the three families that make up the order Dasyuromorphia, the Australian marsupial carnivores. The species is not closely related to other extant marsupials; the current arrangement in the order Dasyuromorphia places its monotypic family with the diverse and carnivorous species of Dasyuridae. 

A closer affinity with the extinct thylacine, contained in the same order, has been proposed. Genetic studies have shown the ancestors of the numbat diverged from other marsupials between 32 and 42 million years ago, during the late Eocene. Two subspecies are recognized, but one of these, the rusty numbat M. f. rufus, has been extinct since at least the 1960s, and only the nominate subspecies M. f. fasciatus remains alive today. As its name implies, the rusty numbat was said to have a more reddish coat than the surviving subspecies. Only a very small number of fossil specimens are known, the oldest dating back to the Pleistocene, and no fossils belonging to other species from the same family have yet been discovered. 

The numbat is a small, colourful creature between 35 and 45 centimetres 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. Colour varies considerably, from soft grey to reddish-brown, often with an area of brick red on the upper back, and always with a conspicuous 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 midback. The underside is cream or light grey, while the tail is covered with long, grey hair flecked with white. Unlike most other marsupials, the numbat is diurnal, largely because of the constraints of having a specialised 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.] Numbats are not large, and they have five toes on the fore feet, and four on the hind feet. However, like other mammals that eat termites or ants, the numbat 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-eating animals, the numbat has an unusually long, 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 apparently help to scrape termites off the tongue so they can be swallowed. 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.