Petaurus notatus (Cremona & Baker & Cooper & Montague-Drake & Stobo-Wilson & Carthew, 2021)

Cremona, Teigan, Baker, Andrew M., Cooper, Steven J. B., Montague-Drake, Rebecca, Stobo-Wilson, Alyson M. & Carthew, Susan M., 2021, Integrative taxonomic investigation of Petaurus breviceps (Marsupialia: Petauridae) reveals three distinct species, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 191, pp. 503-527 : 518-520

PETAURUS NOTATUS PETERS, 1859

Recommended common name: Krefft’s glider.

Remarks: Originally described as Petaurus (Belideus) notatus by Peters (1859) and recognized in Belideu s by Gould (1860), the species was later synonymized under Petaurus breviceps by Thomas (1888), Iredale and Troughton (1934) and all subsequent authors.

Etymology: The species name derives from the Latin notatus , marked.

Type specimen: The type was originally located in the Royal Museum of Berlin when described by Gould in 1860. However, the type was not found in 1980 ( McKay, 1988), there is presently no record of it in the Royal Museum of Berlin and it is hence recorded as lost. Gould stated that he would have been inclined to regard the specimen as identical to P. breviceps , where it not for a white stripe on the dorsal tail and by its snow white tip. Further to this suggestion, the collector of the type suggested that P. notatus is equivalent to P. breviceps ( Krefft, 1871) . For a description of the type see Gould (1863). Our designated neotype, Victoria Museum C27626 adult Port Phillip ( Gould, 1863). The designated neotype was collected by A. J. Turnbull in 1988 from Warburton, VIC approximately 65 km from Port Phillip.

Distribution: Based on genetic and morphological evidence, the species distribution extends from South Australia to North Queensland. There is no evidence to suggest that the species co-occurs with P. breviceps except at the boundary of their distributions. It is likely that the species introduced into Tasmania is P. notatus ( Campbell et al., 2018) and we make that reference here ( Fig. 3).

female skull, dentary and skin, is in excellent condition (see Figs 14 & 15 and description below).

Type locality: The type was collected by M. Gerard Krefft in the district of Victoria generally known as Diagnosis: Petaurus notatus is perhaps the most widely distributed of the Australian Petaurus spp. ( Fig. 3). Petaurus notatus has a clearly defined middorsal stripe fading between the hind legs. The tail of P. notatus is more attenuated than that of P. breviceps and P. ariel , with longer fur at the base of the tail, which shortens towards the tip. The intra-orbital width of P. notatus is the largest of the small Petaurus spp.

Skulls of Petaurus notatus have a smaller nasal width than P. breviceps and a tendency to have a larger zygomatic width ( Tables 2, 3). The skulls of P. breviceps and P. notatus are similar for all other measurements.

A geographic barrier appears to exist between P. breviceps and P. notatus but, given the close proximity of samples in the current study, it is possible that the species also co-occur.