Antechinus flavipes subsp. flavipes, flavipes

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 : 18

(3) A. flavipes flavipes versus A. adustus

Pelage: A. flavipes flavipes has a grey head that merges to orange-yellow tonings on the flanks and rump; A. adustus has more uniformly dark brown fur with rusty tips on the head and back. A. f. flavipes has orange-yellow fur on upper surface of hind feet, whereas A. adustus has dark grey feet.

External measurements: In females, A. f. flavipes is significantly heavier than A. adustus ( Table 2).

Skull: A. f. flavipes differs from A. adustus in absolute measurement (i.e., with no overlap in ranges) for the following skull/dentary characters: in males—larger BuL, and in females—larger M 2 W, UML and BuL. A. f. flavipes has numerous other dentary features that significantly (p<0.01) differ from A. adustus —18 variables for males and 13 for females, as shown in Table 2.

Other Comments: A. f. flavipes females have 10–14 pouch nipples, whereas A. adustus females have 6 pouch nipples. A. f. flavipes is found in south-eastern Australia, across 4 states: Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, and in Queensland is only found south of Rockhampton. A. adustus 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. flavipes and A. adustus are 9.3–10.7%.