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Two chubby marsupial species that would literally die for sex ( albeit 14 - 60 minutes sessions ) have been discovered Down Under , research worker now describe .
The novel specie are types of antechinus , a bristly haired , mousey marsupial that eats meaty repast such as spider and insect . Every class , antechinus males push each other tooth and nipper so they can have sexuality with as many females as potential before dying .
Tasman Peninsula dusky antechinus (Antechinus vandycki) is under threat.
After sexual urge is complete , with some sprees go as long as 14 hour , tension internal secretion in males rocket , have theirimmune systemsto collapse , " and they all cast dead before the females give birth to a exclusive baby , " lead study author Andrew Baker , a mammalogist at the Queensland University of Technology ’s Science and Engineering section , said in a financial statement .
Until now , 10 specie of this sex - craze pouched mammal were known to scientific discipline , with the first discovered in 1803 . In the past three years , however , scientist have identified five new antechinus species , reveal the genus has more diversity than previously thought . Like the known antechinus specie , the two most of late discovered species also spend two to three week a year in a testosterone - fuelled mating battle of Marathon , the researchers said . [ See photograph of the antechinus in its aboriginal environment ]
scientist determine one of the new mintage , the Tasman Peninsula dusky antechinus ( Antechinus vandycki ) , in the distant areas of southeasterly Tasmania . researcher already knew about the other brown , furred marsupial , but did n’t realize it was its own species until now . Now describe the mainland dusky antechinus ( Antechinus swainsonii mimetes ) , the newbie dwell in parts of New South Wales and Victoria in Australia .
However , A. vandyckifaces challenge beyond surviving a mating frenzy : Loggers are tearing apart the beast ’s habitat and may bear on the mintage into a threatened status , the researchers said . Moreover , three of the comparatively new antechinus species , includingA. vandycki , are also threatened byclimate change ; ferine pests , such as computerized axial tomography and non - native dodger ; and habitat loss , the research worker said .
" We get word the Tasman Peninsula dusky antechinus not far from the old European colony town of Port Arthur in Tasmania , " Baker sound out in the program line . " Most of its limited habitat falls within state forest , which is being lumber .
" This specie now apparently only lives in tiny , split rack of integral wood that are under menace , " Baker added . " It ’s a ignominy that bare moment after discovery , these little Tasmanian marsupials are threaten with defunctness at human custody . "
In fact , Baker has already try out to place two of the other antechinus species he discovered — the Joseph Black - tailed and silver gray - head up antechinus — on the state ’s threatened metal money inclination .
" Both these species are found on distant mountaintops in southeast Queensland , " Baker say . " These species have already retreated to their hazy good deal summits . In the face of on-going climate thawing , they have nowhere left to run . "
The male antechinus’suicidal sexcapadesmake the brute even more vulnerable to population extinctions , the researchers state .
" This yearly manly suicide mission , which halve each antechinus universe , means the mums have enough spiders and insects to corrode while they raise the next cute contemporaries , " he say . " But the future of each species is entrusted to the mothers alone . "
In an sweat to help the antechinus , Baker is asking that the Tasmanian and Australian governments give the three vulnerable species that are threatened by clime variety , feral pest and habitat loss a threatened metal money listing . The researchers also desire to plug funding to continue to take these sexuality - mad marsupials .
" Uncovering fresh mammals in developed land like Australia is pretty rarified , and the fact we ’ve found even more antechinus mintage jot at the biodiversity jewels still waiting to be unearthed , " Baker said .
The study was published online May 26 in thejournal Memoirs of the Queensland Museum | Nature .
