Antechinus flavipes subsp. rubeculus (Van Dyck, 1982)

Baker, Andrew M. & Dyck, Steve Van, 2013, Taxonomy and redescription of the Yellow-footed Antechinus, Antechinus flavipes (Waterhouse) (Marsupialia: Dasyuridae), Zootaxa 3649 (1), pp. 1-62 : 51-52

(9) A. flavipes rubeculus versus A. mysticus

Pelage: A. flavipes rubeculus tends to be orange-reddish on the rump, flanks and tail base, with orange-yellow fur on the upper surface of the hind feet, whereas A. mysticus has yellowish fur on the rump and flanks and paler buff fur on the upper surface of the hind feet and tail base.

External measurements: A. f. rubeculus is larger than A. mysticus in absolute measurement (i.e., with no overlap in ranges) for body weight in males only. A. f. rubeculus is significantly larger than A. mysticus for headbody length and hind foot length in males and in body weight, head-body length and hind foot length for females (Table 6).

Skull: A. f. rubeculus differs from A. mysticus in absolute measurement (i.e., with no overlap in ranges) for the following skull/dentary characters in males: larger M 2 W, UML, I 1 -P 3, LML and M 2 W, and in females: larger Dent, M 2 W, PL, UML, LML and M 2 W. A. f. rubeculus has numerous dentary features that significantly (p<0.01) differ from A. mysticus —17 variable for males and 18 for females, as shown in Table 6.

Other Comments: A. f. rubeculus is found only in the wet tropics of north-east Queensland, north of Townsville, whereas A. mysticus is found in eastern, coastal Queensland, ranging from just north of the Queensland / New South Wales border to Mackay, mid-east Queensland. A. mysticus appears to be limited in at least part of its range, probably only occurring in small, scattered populations along the 650 kilometres of coastline between Gympie (south-east) and Mackay (mid-east) Queensland (AMB, personal observation). Genetics: uncorrected pairwise range differences at the mitochondrial gene Cytochrome B (CytB) between A. f. rubeculus and A. mysticus are 9.2–9.7%.