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Global biodiversity loss continues unabated, and in Australia, the rate of recent mammal extinctions is among the worst in the world. Meanwhile, the diversity among and within many endemic mammal species remains undescribed. This information is crucial to delineate species boundaries and thus inform decision‐making for conservation. Sminthopsis virginiae (the red‐cheeked dunnart) is a small, dasyurid marsupial found in four disjunct populations around the northern coast of Australia and New Guinea. There are three currently recognized subspecies, each occupying a distinct geographic location. Sminthopsis v. virginiae occurs in Queensland, S. v. rufigenis is distributed across New Guinea and the Aru Islands, and S. v. nitela has populations in the Top End of the Northern Territory and the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Previous molecular work has suggested the current subspecies definitions are not aligned with DNA sequence data, though the sampling was limited. We undertook a comprehensive genetic and morphological review of S. virginiae to clarify relationships within the species. This included mitochondrial (CR, 12S, and cytb) and nuclear (omega‐globin, IRBP, and bfib7) loci, and morphometric analysis of skulls and whole wet‐preserved specimens held in museums. Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian phylogenetic analyses resolved samples into two distinct clades, demarcated by the Gulf of Carpentaria in Australia's north. Sminthopsis. v. nitela was consistently separated from S. v. virginiae and S. v. rufigenis, based on the overall body and skull size and craniodental features, while S. v. virginiae and S. v. rufigenis were more difficult to distinguish from each other. Thus, we redescribed S. virginiae, recognizing two species, S. nitela (raised from subspecies) and S. virginiae (now comprising the subspecies S. v. virginiae and S. v. rufigenis). This study highlights the importance of recognizing cryptic mammal fauna to help address the gap in our knowledge about diagnosing diversity during a time of conservation crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pseudocheiridae (Marsupialia: Diprotodontia) is a family of endemic Australasian arboreal folivores, more commonly known as ringtail possums. Seventeen extant species are grouped into six genera (Pseudocheirus, Pseudochirulus, Hemibelideus, Petauroides, Pseudochirops, Petropseudes). Pseudochirops and Pseudochirulus are the only genera with representatives on New Guinea and surrounding western islands. Here, we examine phylogenetic relationships among 13 of the 17 extant pseudocheirid species based on protein-coding portions of the ApoB, BRCA1, ENAM, IRBP, Rag1, and vWF genes. Maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian methods were used to estimate phylogenetic relationships. Two different relaxed molecular clock methods were used to estimate divergence times. Bayesian and maximum parsimony methods were used to reconstruct ancestral character states for geographic provenance and maximum elevation occupied. We find robust support for the monophyly of Pseudocheirinae (Pseudochirulus + Pseudocheirus), Hemibelidinae (Hemibelideus + Petauroides), and Pseudochiropsinae (Pseudochirops + Petropseudes), respectively, and for an association of Pseudocheirinae and Hemibelidinae to the exclusion of Pseudochiropsinae. Within Pseudochiropsinae, Petropseudes grouped more closely with the New Guinean Pseudochirops spp. than with the Australian Pseudochirops archeri, rendering Pseudochirops paraphyletic. New Guinean species belonging to Pseudochirops are monophyletic, as are New Guinean species belonging to Pseudochirulus. Molecular dates and ancestral reconstructions of geographic provenance combine to suggest that the ancestors of extant New Guinean Pseudochirops spp. and Pseudochirulus spp. dispersed from Australia to New Guinea ∼12.1–6.5 Ma (Pseudochirops) and ∼6.0–2.4 Ma (Pseudochirulus). Ancestral state reconstructions support the hypothesis that occupation of high elevations (>3000 m) is a derived feature that evolved on the terminal branch leading to Pseudochirops cupreus, and either evolved in the ancestor of Pseudochirulus forbesi, Pseudochirulus mayeri, and Pseudochirulus caroli, with subsequent loss in P. caroli, or evolved independently in P. mayeri and P. forbesi. Divergence times within the New Guinean Pseudochirops clade are generally coincident with the uplift of the central cordillera and other highlands. Diversification within New Guinean Pseudochirulus occurred in the Plio-Pleistocene after the establishment of the Central Range and other highlands.

The stripe-faced dunnart (Sminthopsis macroura) is one of the most widespread dasyurids in Australia, occurring mostly in semiarid and arid habitats. It is not known to inhabit coastal regions of southern Australia, and no records have previously been recorded from latitudes greater than 28.5°S in Western Australia. Following the capture of an individual south of the known species range provisionally identified based on external morphology as S. macroura , we used DNA and craniodental morphology to corroborate the specimen's identification, providing a record of the species at Eucla, Western Australia. This represents a large range extension for S. macroura of 630 km from the nearest confirmed records of the species in Western Australia and South Australia. A suspected stripe-faced dunnart (Sminthopsis macroura) was captured at a coastal dune site near Eucla, Western Australia. The identity of the specimen was corroborated through DNA sequencing and morphological examination. This represents a range extension into novel habitat for the species in southern Western Australia. Photograph by Joshua Keen, Biota Environmental Sciences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this study was to develop a method for examining children's expectations about the short-term consequences of defensive interpersonal behaviour. We employed the theory of interpersonal defence (Dahmen & Westerman, in press; Westerman, 1998, 2005; Westerman & Prieto, 2006), an interpersonal reconceptualization of defence processes, as the framework for this method. We developed a two-part procedure for eliciting children's responses to closed-ended and open-ended questions about interpersonal vignettes presented in storyboard format, and we employed this method in a preliminary investigation with a sample of 62 intellectually gifted boys and girls aged 7-8 and 10-11. The results showed that the participants understood that defensive interpersonal behaviours affect the likelihood that feared and wished-for short-term outcomes will occur. Participants demonstrated that they understood that people behave defensively in order to avoid feared consequences and nondefensively in order to pursue wished-for outcomes. Findings also indicated that older participants understood that a person is more likely to behave defensively in highly conflict-ridden situations. The results suggest that our method provides the basis for research that complements previous studies of children's understanding of how intrapsychic defence mechanisms regulate a person's affective experience. Future research using this method could investigate the role of beliefs about defensive behaviour in the development of behaviour problems.

A group of healthy mothers were compared with a group of mothers who had problems with getting their children to comply. Healthy mothers more effectively modulated their directives and had significantly higher scores on a measure of maternal coordination. (RH)

Morphological and molecular studies have consistently suggested that Sminthopsis , as currently defined, is rendered paraphyletic by the kultarr (Antechinomys laniger). They have also suggested a sister relationship between the kultarr and the long-tailed dunnart. Based on DNA sequence data from multiple mitochondrial and nuclear gene loci we reassign the long-tailed dunnart (formerly Sminthopsis longicaudata) to Antechinomys. Although there is good evidence of genetic structure within the kultarr (A. laniger), it does not correspond to the two currently recognised subspecies, viz A. laniger laniger and A. l. spenceri. We conclude that Antechinomys consists of two species, A. laniger and A. longicaudatus , consistent with morphology. We suggest that the observed genetic and morphological variation within A. laniger merits a more thorough investigation of more samples from across its range to resolve the taxonomy. Kultarrs are widespread over much of inland Australia. Although only two subspecies are currently recognised, we show that a third may be present in Western Australia. We also suggest that the long-tailed dunnart be recognised as a second species of Antechinomys as A. longicaudata. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]