bandicoot

Bandicoots are a group of more than 20 species of small to medium-sized, terrestrial, largely nocturnal omnivorous marsupials in the order Peramelemorphia. They are endemic to the Australia–New Guinea region, including the Bismarck Archipelago to the east and Seram and Halmahera to the west.

== Etymology == The bandicoots are members 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 (), wherein means pig and means rat.