Northern brush-tailed phascogale

Phascogale pirata

Blamed on cats

IUCN status: Vulnerable

EPBC Predator Threat Rating: Not assessed

IUCN claim: “cats might be threats (Rhind et al. 2008).”

Studies in support

No studies

Studies not in support

Woinarski et al. (2011) documented the presence and absence of phascogales and cats across the Sir Edward Pellew island group: the phascogales were present on one of the islands on which cats occurred.

Is the threat claim evidence-based?

No studies were found linking cats to northern brush-tailed phascogale.

Evidence linking Phascogale pirata to cats. Systematic review of evidence for an association between Phascogale pirata and cats. Positive studies are in support of the hypothesis that cats contribute to the decline of Phascogale pirata, negative studies are not in support. Predation studies include studies documenting hunting or scavenging; baiting studies are associations between poison baiting and threatened mammal abundance where information on predator abundance is not provided; population studies are associations between threatened mammal and predator abundance. Gold borders indicate studies that meet qualities of scientific rigour. See methods section in Wallach and Lundgren 2025 for details on evidence categories.
Evidence linking Phascogale pirata to cats. Systematic review of evidence for an association between Phascogale pirata and cats. Positive studies are in support of the hypothesis that cats contribute to the decline of Phascogale pirata, negative studies are not in support. Predation studies include studies documenting hunting or scavenging; baiting studies are associations between poison baiting and threatened mammal abundance where information on predator abundance is not provided; population studies are associations between threatened mammal and predator abundance. Gold borders indicate studies that meet qualities of scientific rigour. See methods section in Wallach and Lundgren 2025 for details on evidence categories.

References

IUCN Red List. https://www.iucnredlist.org/ Accessed June 2023

Wallach A.D., Lundgren E.J. (2025) Review of evidence that foxes and cats cause extinctions of Australia’s endemic mammals. BioScience. DOI: 10.1093/biosci/biaf046

Woinarski, J.C.Z., Ward, S., Mahney, T., Bradley, J., Brennan, K., Ziembicki, M. and Fisher, A., 2011. The mammal fauna of the Sir Edward Pellew island group, Northern Territory, Australia: refuge and death-trap. Wildlife Research, 38(4), pp.307-322.