Phascogale flavipes burrelli Le Souef

Parnaby, Harry E., Ingleby, Sandy & Divljan, Anja, 2017, Type Specimens of Non-fossil Mammals in the Australian Museum, Sydney, Records of the Australian Museum 69 (5), pp. 277-420 : 309

Phascogale flavipes burrelli Le Souef , in Le Souef et al., 1926

Le Souef and Burrell, The Wild Animals of Australasia, p. 344, fig. 92. (October 1926).

Common name. Brown Antechinus .

Current name. Antechinus stuartii Macleay, 1841 ; following Jackson & Groves (2015).

Holotype. M.2593, by original designation. Male, skull, study skin, Ebor, NSW, registered on 8 November 1915, presented by the Council of the Zoological Society of NSW. Collector and collection date not given. The original M Register entry is “ Phascogale flavipes Ebor, N.S. Wales Pres. Council Zoological Society”.

Condition. Cranium and dentaries complete. Study skin has two bald patches on the ventral surface and is missing tail tip.

Type locality. Localized to Ebor, NSW by Iredale & Troughton (1934), given as “ Highlands of Northern New South Wales ” in the original account .

Comments. Although authorship attribution to Le Souef and Burrell is entrenched in the literature, in the original description it is clearly attributed to Le Souef alone, and is called “Burrell’s Phascogale ”. A single specimen is mentioned by registration number in the original account and we have not found any indication from the M Register that further specimens were involved. Iredale & Troughton (1934) note “ ex Le Souef MS”—presumably Le Souef had prepared a more detailed account in an unpublished manuscript. Troughton (1941, and subsequent editions) doubted the validity of this taxon and he stated that it was “ described as having a smaller body, comparatively larger feet, and slightly crested tail. These characters were possibly due to a period of captivity; so the race may be disregarded until wild specimens are found with similar characters.” This taxon was confused with A. flavipes but Wakefield & Warneke (1967) placed it with A. stuartii , sensu lato. Dickman et al. (1998), in describing A. agilis , placed burrelli with A. stuartii , sensu stricto. Skull measurements of the holotype of burrelli are given by Dickman et al. (1998) and Van Dyck & Crowther (2000).