The kowari (Dasyuroides byrnei), also known by its Diyari name kariri, is a small carnivorous marsupial native to the gibber deserts of central Australia. It is the sole member of the genus Dasyuroides. Other names for the species include brush-tailed marsupial rat, bushy-tailed marsupial rat, kawiri, Kayer rat, and Byrne's crest-tailed marsupial rat. Taxonomy The kowari was first described Sir Walter Baldwin Spencer in 1896, based on a type specimen collected near Charlotte Waters in the Northern Territory. The species was names in honour of Patrick Michael Byrne, the telegraph operator at the Charlotte Waters Telegraph Station who handed the specimen to Spencer. However, it is likely that the specimen was first collected by a person from the Arrernte nation. The kowari is a member of the family Dasyuridae, and the sole member of genus Dasyuroides. For some time it was included in the genus Dasycercus with the mulgaras, however recent genetic work has confidently separated the kowari as their sister-taxon. It was once thought that there were two subspecies, however these were based on minor morphological differences and they are no longer recognised: D. b. byrnei, including the original type specimen from Charlotte Waters, Northern Territory; D. b. pallidior, type specimen from Killalpaninna, South Australia. Description The kowari is most readily distinguished from its closest relatives, the mulgaras, by having a thick, bushy brush of black hairs fully encircling the end of its tail. Other distinguishing features include having four toes on each hindfoot (as opposed to five), and the fact that the base of its tail is never fattened (tail base is often fattened in the brush-tailed mulgara, and occasionally fattened in the crest-tailed mulgara). Male kowaris are slightly larger than females, with males weighing 85-175 g, and females weighing 70-140 g. Head-body length is between 14-18 cm for males and 13.5-16 cm for females, with both sexes having tails 11-16 cm long. Distribution and habitat The kowari is found in stony desert areas of the Lake Eyre drainage basin, including the Sturt Stony Desert in north-eastern South Australia and south-western Queensland's Channel Country. Its range is declining, and it is now extinct in the Northern Territory. Kowaris inhabit open gibber plains between braided river channels and sand dunes. They prefer areas where rocks are flat, even-sized and smaller than 5 cm, and there are few shrubs. They burrow in small sand mounds, which form in depressions on