The rainforest bandicoots (family Peroryctidae) are small to medium sized marsupial omnivores native to New Guinea and nearby areas, including far-northern Australia, Seram, and Kiriwina. Together with the true bandicoots (family Peramelidae) they make up the order Peramelemorphia. Where the true bandicoots originated in Australia and on the whole are well adapted for that relatively arid continent, the rainforest bandicoots evolved in New Guinea and although they occupy a wide range of habitats, are primarily creatures of the dense, wet tropical forests. Just as there is a single species of true bandicoot which has crossed Torres Strait to colonise New Guinea (the Northern Brown Bandicoot), there is a single species of rainforest bandicoot which has crossed in the opposite direction, and occupies the most northerly part of Australia (the Rufous Spiny Bandicoot).
There are 11 species in 3 genera, the smallest weighing less than 100 grams (roughly half the size of a rat) and the largest reaching over 5 kilograms (the size of a large domestic cat).
Classification within the Peramelemorphia used to be simple: there were thought to be two families in the order—the short-legged and mostly herbivorous bandicoots, and the longer-legged, more nearly carnivorous bilbies.
In recent years, however, it has become clear that the rainforest bandicoots[?] of New Guinea and far-northern Australia are distinct from all other bandicoots, and these remain within the order but are now grouped together in the separate familyPeroryctidae[?].
The bilbies, on the other hand, despite their distinct appearance and habits, are more closely related to the true bandicoots than they look, and they are now regarded as merely a subfamily within the Peramelidae.
While it appears that the order is intermediate between dasyuroids (polyprotodonts) and diprotodonts, the evolutionary origins of the bandicoots remain contentious and opinion varies, dependent on the significance given to dental or foot structure.
Peroryctidae: Little is known about the status of most species.
First, the bandicoots of the New Guinean and far-northern Australian rainforests were deemed distinct from all other bandicoots, and these were grouped together in the separate familyPeroryctidae.
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