Macropus parma

The parma wallaby (Notamacropus parma) is a small, hopping, kangaroo-like mammal native to forests of southeastern Australia. About the size of a stout cat, it lives in dense shrub and is only active at night to feed on grasses and small plants. It is the smallest of the wallabies (short, kangaroo-like animals of the genus Notamacropus) and carries its young in a pouch like other marsupials. Shy and elusive, it was believed extinct until rediscovery in the 1960s. It is threatened by habitat loss and is easily killed by non-native foxes. Taxonomy The parma wallaby was first described by British naturalist John Gould in about 1840. Its epithet parma (Waterhouse 1845) comes after a word from a New South Wales Aboriginal language, but the exact source word and language have not been identified. In 2019, a reassessment of macropod taxonomy determined that Osphranter and Notamacropus, formerly considered subgenera of Macropus, should be moved to the genus level. This change was accepted by the Australian Faunal Directory in 2020. Rediscovery and sightings A shy cryptic creature of the wet sclerophyll forests of northern New South Wales (Australia), it was never commonly encountered and, even before the end of the 19th century, it was believed to be extinct.