Antechinus flavipes subsp. leucogaster

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 : 32-33

(2) A. flavipes leucogaster versus A. flavipes rubeculus

Pelage: A. flavipes leucogaster is drabber, generally with orange tonings replaced with fawn-browns; the belly is a dirty white and tail is dark orange along its upper length and markedly pale on its underside. A. flavipes rubeculus tends towards a richer redder colour on the rump and flanks.

External measurements: A. f. leucogaster is smaller than A. flavipes rubeculus in absolute measurement (i.e., with no overlap in ranges) for body weight in both males and females. A. f. leucogaster is significantly smaller than A. flavipes rubeculus for head-body length, tail-vent length and hind foot length in both males and females (Table 4).

Skull: A. f. leucogaster differs from A. f. rubeculus in absolute measurement (i.e., with no overlap in ranges) for the following skull/dentary characters: in males—smaller M 2 W, UML and LML; and in females—smaller Dent, IOW, M 2 W, R-LC 1, PL, SWR-LC 1 B, UML and LML. A. f. leucogaster has numerous other dentary features that significantly (p<0.01) differ from A. f. rubeculus —10 variables for males and 9 for females, as shown in Table 4.

Other Comments: A. f. leucogaster females have 8–10 pouch nipples, whereas A. f. rubeculus females have 6– 8 pouch nipples. A. f. leucogaster is found in south-western Western Australia whereas A. f. rubeculus is restricted to the wet tropics of north-east Queensland. Genetics: uncorrected pairwise range differences at the mitochondrial gene Cytochrome B (CytB) between A. f. leucogaster and A. f. rubeculus are 6.1–6.8 %.