ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY

Apart from variation in body size, general body structure varies little between dasyurid species, with the exception of the structure of the manus and pes, which may vary between arboreal and terrestrial species. Some species possess gut-associated and bronchial-associated lym­phoid tissues (Old et al. 2006; Stannard et al. 2017).

As with other marsupials, dasyurids have been shown to possess both innate and adaptive immunity, including a complement system, toll-like receptor signalling, natural killer cell activation, cytokine production, antimicrobial peptides and an adaptive capacity in anti­body production (see Chapter 7).

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