Antechinus argentus, Baker, Mutton & Hines, 2013

Baker, Andrew M, Mutton, Thomas Y & Hines, Harry B, 2013, A new dasyurid marsupial from Kroombit Tops, south-east Queensland, Australia: the Silver-headed Antechinus, Antechinus argentus sp. nov. (Marsupialia: Dasyuridae), Zootaxa 3746 (2), pp. 201-239 : 218-219

(8) A. argentus versus A. subtropicus Van Dyck and Crowther

Pelage: A. argentus has a silvery head and neck that merges to deep olive-buff on the rump and flanks; A. subtropicus is more uniformly brownish on the head and back.

External measurements: A. argentus is smaller than A. subtropicus in absolute measurement for one external body character in females: wt (see Table 4); this was rendered non-significant because of small sample size in female A. argentus and A. subtropicus (n=2 and n=3 for body weight, respectively) (Table 4).

Dentary: Antechinus argentus is smaller than A. subtropicus in absolute measurement in males and females for: APV, IOW and PPV. Antechinus argentus is larger than A. subtropicus in absolute measurement in males and females for: IPV. Antechinus argentus is smaller than A. subtropicus in absolute measurement in females only for: Dent, HT and PL (Table 4). A. argentus has small- to medium-sized entoconids on M 3, whereas in A. subtropicus they are medium- to large-sized.

Other Comments: A. argentus is found in south-east Qld in Kroombit Tops NP, whereas A. subtropicus has a coastal subtropical distribution in south-east Qld and north-east NSW, with a northern limit at about Gympie (about 200 km SSE of Kroombit). Genetics: uncorrected pairwise range differences at the mitochondrial gene CytB between A. argentus and A. subtropicus are 14.3–14.7%.