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 : 215-217

(8) A. bellus versus A. leo

Pelage: Antechinus bellus is a strikingly pale animal: pale to medium grey above, sometimes with a faun tinge, whereas A. leo is more uniformly cinnamon on the head and back with slightly darkened hair forming a mid-dorsal head stripe.

External measurements: Antechinus bellus differs from A. leo in absolute measurement (i.e., with no overlap in ranges) for no external characters as far as we know. However, A. bellus is significantly larger than A. leo in ear length and significantly smaller in body weight, for both males and females; A. bellus is significantly smaller than A. leo in hindfoot length for males (Table 2).

Skull: Antechinus bellus differs from A. leo in absolute measurement (i.e., with no overlap in ranges) for the following 4 skull / dentary characters for males: IBW, IOW, TC and NWR and the following 4 skull/dentary characters for females: IBW, IOW, TC and BuL (refer Figures 10 and 11). Moreover, A. bellus has a range of other dentary features that significantly (p<0.01) differ from A. leo — 10 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. leo is found in semi-deciduous mesophyll rainforest between the Iron and McIlwraith Ranges on the east coast of Cape York Peninsula, Qld. Genetics: uncorrected pairwise difference at the mitochondrial gene Cytochrome B (CytB) between A. bellus and A. leo is 7.4%.