Myrmecobius fasciatus
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English: Marsupial anteater
German: Ameisenbeutler
French: Fourmilier marsupial rat‚
Spanish: Dipelfo
Distribution areas
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The marsupial anteater is found in
wooded areas of Australia and the islands
near Australia.
Description of the fur
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The skins are about 8 cm long; the tail The surface structure
about 18 cm. The coat is dense and fine; of the skin, 60x
the tail is covered by coarse black hairs.
The undercoat is lightly-grey in colour. On the neck the colour of hair is
light brown, and is a darker red-brown on the back. Across the body are white
and red stripes with diffuse margins. The belly is yellow-white in colour.
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Myrmecobius fasciatus
---------------------
English: Marsupial anteater
German: Ameisenbeutler
French: Fourmilier marsupial rat‚
Spanish: Dipelfo
Structure of the hair
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The microscopic skin surface is usually
regularly grooved with narrow,
straight-edged hair follicles. On average
the follicles contain three or more hair
shafts.
The fine fur fibres are circular or A group of the fine hairs,
elliptical in cross-section, with a 200x
diameter of 14 to 25 µm. The cuticular
scales are cornet-like ate the bottom part, but the other parts of the shafts
are covered by petal-like scales, with a smooth surface and straight scale
margins. The medulla is narrow, unbroken and central symmetrical-shaped in
cross-section. The overall medullary structure is of the uniserial ladder
type with an amorphous infilling substance.
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Myrmecobius fasciatus
---------------------
English: Marsupial anteater
German: Ameisenbeutler
French: Fourmilier marsupial rat‚
Spanish: Dipelfo
The intermediate fibres have a diameter
of from 30 to 60 µm; the cross-section is
elliptical in outline. The cuticular scales
are wavelike with a smooth scale surface
and straight edges. The medulla is narrow,
unbroken and central symmetrical shaped in
cross-section. The overall structure of the
medulla is of the uniserial ladder type
with an amorphous infilling material. The cuticular structure
of an intermediate hair, 1000x
The guard hairs are also elliptical in
cross-section with the diameter measuring 60 to 95 µm. The cuticular scales
are of an even, tile-like shape with a smooth surface and straight scale
margins. The medullary column is wide, unbroken and central
symmetrical-shaped in cross-section. The medulla is of the
sponge-lattice-like type with an amorphous or spongelike structure of the
infilling substance.
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Myrmecobius fasciatus
---------------------
English: Marsupial anteater
German: Ameisenbeutler
French: Fourmilier marsupial rat‚
Spanish: Dipelfo
Transverse section
of a fine fur fibre, 1000x
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Myrmecobius fasciatus
---------------------
English: Marsupial anteater
German: Ameisenbeutler
French: Fourmilier marsupial rat‚
Spanish: Dipelfo
Transverse section
of a guard hair, 600x
Numerical code for marsupial anteater skin structure
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Surface of the skin: 2-4-3
Fine fur fibres: 1.2-11.5-1-1-3-1-1-1-8-14.25-8.15
Intermediate fibres: 2-7-1-1-3-1-1-1-8-30.61-10.21
Guard hairs: 2-2-1-1-2-1-1-6-8.5-60.95-20.28
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