dunnart

Probably borrowed from Nyunga danard (“Sminthopsis griseoventer”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈdʌnə(ɹ)t/

• Audio (Southern England):

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dunnart (plural dunnarts)

1. Any species of the genus Sminthopsis of small carnivorous marsupials that resemble mice or shrews.
   • 2005, C. Hugh Tyndale-Biscoe, Life of Marsupials, page 158:

     After the winter solstice, while the ambient temperature still remained low, nest sharing declined rapidly, due to increasing intolerance among the fat-tailed dunnarts, as breeding began.

   • 2009, Tim Winton, “Silent Country: Travels through a Recovering Landscape”, in Robyn Davidson, editor, The Best Australian Essays 2009, page 18:

     During the original AWC survey, Alexander Baynes identified, in a single hollow salmon gum, 283 jaws of half-a-dozen native mammal species, mostly dunnarts, many of which were recovered from owl pellets.

   • 2010, Damian Michael, David Lindenmayer, Reptiles of the NSW Murray Catchment, page 7:

     Reptiles are an important food source for a wide range of animals, including birds and small native marsupials such as the yellow-footed antechinus and the fat-tailed dunnart.

• marsupial mouse

• Tunnard

Borrowed from English dunnart, from Nyunga danard (“probably Sminthopsis griseoventer”).

dunnart m (genitive singular dunnairt, nominative plural dunnairt)

1. dunnart