Antechinus bellus (Thomas, 1904)

Dyck, Steve Van, 2013, Taxonomy and redescription of the Fawn Antechinus, Antechinus bellus (Thomas) (Marsupialia: Dasyuridae), Zootaxa 3613 (3), pp. 201-228 : 218

(12) A. bellus versus A. minimus

Pelage: Antechinus bellus is a strikingly pale animal: pale to medium grey above, sometimes with a faun tinge, whereas A. minimus has coarser fur and a leaden grey head that merges to brownish yellow on the rump and flanks.

External measurements: Antechinus bellus is larger than A. minimus in absolute measurement (i.e., with no overlap in ranges) for ear length in males and females and for tail length in males. Moreover, A. bellus is significantly larger than A. minimus in hindfoot length for both males and females and in tail length for females (Table 2).

Skull: Antechinus bellus differs from A. minimus in absolute measurement (i.e., with no overlap in ranges) for the following 13 skull/dentary characters for males: APV, IOW, IPV, M 2 W, R-LC 1, R-LM 1, R-LM 2, R-LM 3, SWR- LC 1 B, UML, BuL, LML and M 2 W and the following 12 skull/dentary characters for females: IOW, IPV, M 2 W, R- LC 1, R-LM 1, R-LM 2, R-LM 3, SWR-LC 1 B, UML, BuL, LML and M 2 W. Moreover, A. bellus has a range of other dentary features that significantly (p<0.01) differ from A. minimus — 4 variables for males and 8 variables for females, as shown in Table 2.

Other comments: Antechinus bellus is found in savannah woodlands of the Top End, Northern Territory, whereas A. minimus is found in low altitude damp grasslands and woodlands of coastal south-eastern Australia and Tasmania. A. bellus females have 10 nipples in the pouch, whereas A. minimus females have 6–8 nipples in the pouch. A. bellus possesses a distally thickened and twisted supratragus of the ear rather than the simple, uncurled structure found in A. minimus . Genetics: uncorrected pairwise difference at the mitochondrial gene Cytochrome B (CytB) between A. bellus and A. minimus is 13.2%.