The crest-tailed mulgara (Dasycercus cristicauda) is a small to medium-sized Australian carnivorous marsupial and a member of the family Dasyuridae (meaning "hairy tail")[1] which includes quolls, dunnarts, numbats, the endangered Tasmanian devil and the extinct thylacine.

[3] A fourth species, Dasyuroides byrnei, described by Spencer, 1896, was included by Mahoney and Ride however a lack of consensus resulted in its exclusion to the genus Dasycercus.

[8] Historically the species’ geographic range was much larger incorporating areas from Ooldea on the eastern edge of the Nullarbor Plain and the Musgrave Ranges in South Australia, Sandringham Station in Queensland (last record in 1968)[9] and from the Canning Stock Route and near Rawlinna on the Nullarbor Plain in Western Australia.

[8] Owl pellet examinations showed presence of crest-tailed mulgara near the southern and south-eastern margins of the Strzelecki dunefield/sandplain, in the Flinders Ranges and at Mutawintji National Park in far-western New South Wales.

[2][4] During the day it shelters in burrows which are located at the base of sandhill canegrass (Zygochloa paradoxa) clumps[2] or Nitre bush (Nitraria billardieri) growing around the edges of salt lakes.

[4] Burrow site suitability, rainfall, food resources and the fire age of the vegetation community may be a factor influencing their distribution.

[2] The crest-tail mulgara is an opportunistic or non-specialist carnivore, eating a range of insects, arachnids and rodents but also includes reptiles, centipedes and small marsupials.

Independent young are found in spring and early summer[4][11] The following are the federal, state and international listings for the crest-tailed mulgara.

[8] The mulgara was presumed extirpated in New South Wales for more than a century, but was re-discovered in 2017 in Sturt National Park north-west of Tibooburra.