The bandicoot is a member of the order Peramelemorphia, and the word "bandicoot" is often used informally to refer to any peramelemorph, such as the bilby. The term originally referred to the unrelated Indian bandicoot rat from the Telugu word Pandikokku.
Characteristics
Most marsupials, including bandicoots, have a bifurcated penis. The embryos of bandicoots have a chorioallantoic placenta that connects them to the uterine wall, in addition to the choriovitelline placenta that is common to all marsupials. However, the chorioallantoic placenta is small compared to those of the Placentalia, and lacks chorionic villi. Bandicoots may serve as a primary reservoir for Coxiella burnetii. Infection is transmitted among them by ticks. These are then transmitted to domestic animals. The infected domestic animals shed them in urine, faeces, and placental products. It is transmitted to humans causing Q fever by inhalation of aerosols of these materials. Main symptoms may be pneumonia and/or hepatitis.
Classification
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, nearly carnivorous bilbies. In recent years however, it has become clear that the situation is more complex. First, the bandicoots of the New Guinean and far-northern Australian rainforests were deemed distinct from all other bandicoots and were grouped together in the separate family Peroryctidae. More recently, the bandicoot families were reunited in Peramelidae, with the New Guinean species split into four genera in two subfamilies, Peroryctinae and Echymiperinae, while the "true bandicoots" occupy the subfamily Peramelidae. The only exception is the now extinct pig-footed bandicoot, which has been given its own family, Chaeropodidae.
The name bandicoot is an Anglicised version of a word from the Telegu language of South India which translates as 'pig-rat'. What we now call bandicoots are not found in India and bandicoot was originally applied to completely unrelated mammals - several species of large rats. Today, these species, belonging to the genera Bandicota & Nesokia, are referred to as 'bandicoot rats'. Blust reconstructs the form*mansar or *mansər ‘bandicoot’ for Proto-Central–Eastern Malayo-Polynesian, but the validity of this reconstruction is doubted by Schapper. It is known as aine in the Abinomn language of Papua, Indonesia.
The character Crash Bandicoot is a mutanteastern barred bandicoot, titular protagonist of the Sony PlayStation game, chosen in the late 1990s to compete as a mascot with Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog and Nintendo's Mario. Paleontologists have named an extinct Australian Miocene-era bandicoot, Crash bandicoot, after the character. The species name is unusual, being adopted entirely unaltered, with no attempt at returning to Latin or Greek roots. There are three anthropomorphic bandicoots so far in the television seriesSonic Boom, twin sisters Perci-Staci and Bruce Bandicoot. In 2006, Australian entertainer Ben Murray played Benny Bandicoot during the fifth series of The Wiggles' television series.
