at the Victoria River and Kimberley region. The nominate subspecies bases its description of a specimen collected at Hanover Bay. There is a second subspecies, described by four specimens of a population that may be elevated to species rank after examination of more material. The holotype of Petrogale brachyotis victoriae was obtained in 1974 at Lobby Creek in the "Bradshaw" region of the Northern Territory. The population is only known from collections made near the Victoria River, inspiring the authors to propose that name as the taxon's epithet. Behaviour The short-eared rock-wallaby is a gregarious vegetarian, found in rocky hills and gorges. It is variable in its appearance but is generally grey-brown with white areas around its face and legs. It is not considered threatened. Distribution and habitat Petrogale brachyotis has a patchy occurrence within a wide distribution range, extending west from the border of Queensland and the Northern Territory through the Top End to the Windjana Gorge in northwestern Australia. The range inland is limited to areas of rainfall above the 600 mm isohyet. They are also found as island populations in the Gulf of Carpentaria. The favoured habitat is monsoonal rainforest and open grasslands, where they inhabit cliffs, hills and valleys that provide refuge and forage. In Aboriginal language and culture Speakers of Kunwinjku in West Arnhem Land call the wallaby badbong, and people would traditionally travel with spears into the escarpment to hunt them. According to Kunwinjku elder Reverend Peterson Nganjmirra they would trap badbong in rocky country by setting fire to "spinifex" (actually Triodia spp.). Conservation The IUCN Red List notes the conservation status of the species was assessed as least concern in 2015. The trajectory of the population is not known. Local extinctions are known to have occurred in the southern range in the Northern Territory, the subpopulation in Western Australia has not been historically surveyed. Altered fire regimes may detrimentally affect local populations of the species, and the IUCN advisory group recommends study of the effect of this and other factors on this poorly monitored species. References External links Animal Diversity Web Macropods Mammals of Western Australia Mammals of the Northern Territory Marsupials of Australia Mammals described in 1841