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 : 45-49

(5) A. flavipes rubeculus versus A. bellus

Pelage: A. flavipes rubeculus has a greyish head that merges to orange-red tonings on the rump and flanks with orange-yellow fur on the upper surface of the hind feet, whereas A. bellus is a strikingly pale animal: pale to medium grey above, sometimes with a faun tinge, with pale grey chin, belly, hands and feet.

External measurements: A. f. rubeculus is smaller than A. bellus in absolute measurement (i.e., with no overlap in ranges) for ear length in females only. A. f. rubeculus is significantly smaller than A. bellus for tail-vent length and ear length in males (Table 6).

Skull: A. f. rubeculus differs from A. bellus in absolute measurement (i.e., with no overlap in ranges) for the following skull/dentary characters: in males: larger IOW and smaller R-LM 1, and in females: larger IBW and IOW. A. f. rubeculus has several other dentary features that significantly (p<0.01) differ from A. bellus —1 variable for males and 5 for females, as shown in Table 6.

Other Comments: A. f. rubeculus has a simple, uncurled supratragus on the external ear; A. bellus has a curled supratragus. A. f. rubeculus is found in the wet tropics of north-east Queensland, whereas A. bellus is restricted to the north wet-dry tropics of the Northern Territory. Genetics: uncorrected pairwise range differences at the mitochondrial gene Cytochrome B (CytB) between A. f. rubeculus and A. bellus are 8.7–9.4%.