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 : 217

(9) A. bellus versus A. godmani

Pelage: Antechinus bellus is a strikingly pale animal: pale to medium grey above, sometimes with a faun tinge, whereas A. godmani is more uniformly brown on the head and back with orange-toned cheeks.

External measurements: Antechinus bellus differs from A. godmani in absolute measurement (i.e., with no overlap in ranges) for no external characters in males but is smaller in body weight for females. A. bellus is significantly smaller than A. godmani for body weight in males, and significantly larger in ear length for both males and females (Table 2).

Skull: Antechinus bellus differs from A. godmani in absolute measurement (i.e., with no overlap in ranges) for the following 11 skull/dentary characters for males: IBW, IOW, NW, PPV, R-LM 1, R-LM 2, R-LM 3, PL, TC, BuL and UPL and the following 14 skull/dentary characters for females: Dent, IBW, IOW, NW, PPV, R-LM 1, R-LM 2, PL, TC, UML, BuL, I 1 -P 3, I 1 -P 3 and UPL (refer Figures 8 and 9). Moreover, A. bellus has a range of other dentary features that significantly (p<0.01) differ from A. godmani — 8 variables for males and 4 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. godmani is found above 600 metres altitude in rainforest between Cardwell and Cairns in the wet tropics of north-east Qld. A. bellus females have 10 nipples in the pouch, whereas A. godmani females have 6 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. godmani . Genetics: uncorrected pairwise range differences at the mitochondrial gene Cytochrome B (CytB) between A. bellus and A. godmani are 12.9–13.7%.