Planigale tealei Aplin, Cooper, Travouillon & Umbrello, 2023

Umbrello, Linette S., Cooper, Norah K., Adams, Mark, Travouillon, Kenny J., Baker, Andrew M., Westerman, Mike & Aplin, Ken P., 2023, Hiding in plain sight: two new species of diminutive marsupial (Dasyuridae: Planigale) from the Pilbara, Australia, Zootaxa 5330 (1), pp. 1-46 : 32

Planigale tealei Aplin, Cooper, Travouillon & Umbrello sp. nov.

( Fig. 11 , 15–17 , Tables 2 , 4 )

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:ABF8285C-BD8F-4FEE-BE79-0CE5B7995486

Formerly referred to as ‘ Planigale sp. Mt Tom Price’ by the following authors: Blacket et al. (2000) and Westerman et al. (2016), and as ‘ Planigale sp. 2 ’ by Gibson & McKenzie (2009) and Umbrello et al. (2020).

Holotype. WAM M47923 adult male; Millstream, Western Australia, 21°17’14” S, 117°15’51” E. Collected by W. Manson, 2 nd July 1997. Spirit and skull. Specimen located in the Western Australian Museum Mammal collection, Welshpool , Western Australia.

Paratypes. WAM M47841 , adult female; Tom Price , Western Australia 22°48’26” S, 117°45’00” E. Collected by S. Anstee and N. K. Cooper, 12 th November 1997. Spirit and skull. Liver tissue ABTC161752 ; pouch young from M47841 stored at ‒80 °C at WAM. WAM M47683 , adult female; Tom Price , Western Australia 22°48’25” S, 117°47’03” E. Collected by S. Anstee, 15 th May 1997. Spirit and skull, note specimen selected due to intact skull, spirit specimen is in poor condition . WAM M55123 , adult male; Roy Hill , Western Australia 22°25’12” S, 119°45’34” E. Collected by R. J. Teale et al., 5 th July 2004. Spirit specimen with liver and heart tissue stored at ‒80 °C at WAM.

Etymology. Named in honour of Roy Teale, who has supported the work of the Western Australian Museum over many decades and collected many of the specimens used in this study.

Material examined. Refer to Table 1 for a list of all P. tealei specimens examined in this study, labelled as Planigale sp. Mt Tom Price in Table 1.

Diagnosis. Planigale tealei is considerably smaller in all external and cranial dimensions than each of P. kendricki , P. maculata , P. novaeguineae and P. gilesi . It further differs from each of these taxa in having a more depressed cranium and differs from P. gilesi in retaining upper and lower third premolars. It is slightly smaller than P. tenuirostris and further differs from this species in having a considerably more depressed cranium with a shorter rostrum. It is most similar in size and craniodental morphology to P. ingrami , but it differs from this taxon in having a longer snout and proportionally larger pes, and in lacking a distinct eye ring. The cranium differs from that of all named forms of P. ingrami in having a broadly rounded rather than square posterior nasal suture, a broader interorbital region, more rounded and elongate alisphenoid tympanic process that makes broad contact with the rostral tympanic process of the petrosal, a less flattened occiput and proportionally larger premolars.

Figures

FIGURE 11. Pes of typical A) Planigale kendricki (WAM M51793), and B) Planigale sp. Mt Tom Price (WAM M64697), note relative size difference of pes, shape and placement of apical pads between the species.

FIGURE 15. Photo of Planigale tealei sp. nov. (WAM M62896) photographed by L. Umbrello.

FIGURE 16. Cranium (A, C–E) and dentary (B and F) of the holotype Planigale tealei (WAM M47923). Cranium shown in ventral (A), dorsal (C), posterior (D) and lateral (E) views, and dentary pictured in occlusal (B) and buccal (F) views. Note shallower and broader u-shaped posterior suture of nasals, broader interorbital region and overall smaller skull size compared to P. kendricki.

FIGURE 17. Upper and lower dentition of Planigale tealei (WAM M47841, paratype) from canine to M4. A) upper and B) lower dentition in occlusal view. Abbreviations: acid, anterior cingulid; alci, anterolabial cingulum; ecf, ectoflexus; encd, entoconid; hycd, hypoconid; mec, metacone; mecd, metaconid; pac, paracone; pacd, paraconid; pcid, posterior cingulid; prc, protocone; prcd, protoconid; stB, stylar cusp B; stD, stylar cusp D.