Macrotis lagotis interjecta Troughton, 1932b

Parnaby, Harry E., Ingleby, Sandy & Divljan, Anja, 2017, Type Specimens of Non-fossil Mammals in the Australian Museum, Sydney, Records of the Australian Museum 69 (5), pp. 277-420 : 318

Macrotis lagotis interjecta Troughton, 1932b

Aust. Zool. 7(3): 227. (15 September 1932).

Common name. Greater Bilby.

Current name. Macrotis lagotis lagotis ( Reid, 1837) , following Jackson & Groves (2015). Some modern authors recognize interjecta as a valid subspecies, and the taxonomic status of this form remains uncertain pending a comprehensive study.

Holotype. M.4351 by original designation. Male, skull, study skin, collected by Jack Wills, presented by A. S. Le Souef, registered on 30 July 1928.

Condition. Cranium missing left upper 2nd and 3rd incisors; left dentary missing 3rd incisor; right dentary complete. Study skin missing scrotum, bald patch on the dorsal surface at the base of the tail, and bald patch on the hind left limb.

Type locality. Rawlinna, Trans-Australian Railway line, Western Australia.

Paratypes. (2, 1 by subsequent determination). M.4639 by original designation. Female, skull, study skin, data as per holotype. M.4640, by subsequent determination. Young female, skull, study skin, both from Rawlinna, presented by A. S. Le Souef, and registered 12 August 1929.

Comments. Type series is an “adult pair and young female from Rawlinna” for which Troughton cites registration numbers for the holotype and allotype but not for the young female. It is likely that the young female is M.4640, registered at the same time as the adult paratype. Although M.4640 is not marked as a paratype in the register or on the specimen label, both the specimen label and skull box label has Macrotis interjecta written in red ink, and the specimen index card has been updated in Troughton’s hand with “lagotis interjecta” in red ink, a colour usually reserved for labelling types.