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 : 212

(4) A. bellus versus A. flavipes rubeculus

Pelage: Antechinus bellus is a strikingly pale animal: pale to medium grey above, sometimes with a faun tinge, whereas A. flavipes rubeculus has a sepia-brown head that merges to rufous-hazel brown on the rump and flanks.

External measurements: Antechinus bellus is larger than A. flavipes rubeculus in absolute measurement (i.e., with no overlap in ranges) for ear length in males and females. Moreover, A. bellus is significantly larger than A. flavipes rubeculus in tail length for males (Table 2).

Skull: Antechinus bellus differs from A. flavipes rubeculus in absolute measurement (i.e., with no overlap in ranges) for the following 2 skull/dentary characters for males: IOW and R-LM 1 and the following 2 skull/dentary characters for females: IBW and IOW (refer Figures 8 and 9). Moreover, A. bellus has several other dentary features that significantly (p<0.01) differ from A. flavipes rubeculus — 1 variable 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. flavipes rubeculus is found in north-east Qld. A. bellus females have 10 nipples in the pouch, whereas A. flavipes rubeculus females have 6–8 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. flavipes rubeculus . Genetics: uncorrected pairwise range differences at the mitochondrial gene Cytochrome B (CytB) between A. bellus and A. flavipes rubeculus are 8.7–9.4%.