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 : 14

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

Pelage: A. flavipes flavipes differs from A. flavipes rubeculus in being less richly coloured. A. flavipes flavipes has medium orange-yellow tonings on the rump, flanks and tail base, whereas A. flavipes rubeculus tends towards a richer redder colour on the rump and flanks.

External measurements: A. f. flavipes have significantly smaller hind feet than A. f. rubeculus in both males and females ( Table 2).

Skull: A. f. flavipes differs from A. f. rubeculus in absolute measurement (i.e., with no overlap in ranges) for the following skull/dentary characters in females only: smaller R-LC 1 and SWR-LC 1 B. A. f. flavipes has numerous other dentary features that significantly (p<0.01) differ from A. f. rubeculus —11 variables for males and 22 for females, as shown in Table 2.

Other Comments: A. f. flavipes females have 10–14 pouch nipples, whereas A. f. rubeculus females have 6–8 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 the latitude of Rockhampton. A. f. rubeculus is restricted to the wet tropics of north-east Queensland, north of about Townsville. Genetics: uncorrected pairwise range differences at the mitochondrial gene Cytochrome B (CytB) between A. f. flavipes and A. f. rubeculus are 3.5–5.6%.