The Black-tailed Antechinus, Antechinus arktos sp. nov.: a new species of carnivorous marsupial from montane regions of the Tweed Volcano caldera, eastern Australia Author Dyck, Steve Van Queensland Museum, Vertebrate Zoology (Mammals & Birds), PO Box 3300, South Brisbane, Qld, 4101, Australia text Zootaxa 2014 2014-02-17 3765 2 101 133 journal article 5910 10.11646/zootaxa.3765.2.1 300ad198-2377-4bfd-9381-6868ee9c5f7a 1175-5326 5045725 E7DDABDA-5DA6-4309-A26F-121FCB030EEE Antechinus arktos , sp. nov. (Black-tailed Antechinus ) Etymology. The species epithet refers to the bear-like appearance of the holotype ( arktos is Greek for bear): very long guard hairs cover the body and the animal has a tendency to rear on its hind legs sniffing the air when disturbed, rather than the typical acrobatic leaping behaviour of most congeners. The common name refers to the evenly black-coloured tail of the species, especially when compared to the dark brownish tail of A. swainsonii . FIGURE 4. (a–b) Photograph of live A. arktos paratype specimen; (c) underside hindfoot of the holotype specimen; note the dark pigmentation around the granules. Photographs (a–b) are Copyright Gary Cranitch (Qld Museum); photograph (c) is Copyright Harry Hines. Material. HOLOTYPE : QM JM 20009 (field number N86204), adult female, complete skull and dentary extracted. Body is deep frozen (destined for long-term storage as a puppet skin). DNA sample (liver) is stored in 95% ethanol and frozen. The specimen was collected on 28 May 2013 by A.M.Baker , T . Y. Mutton , H.B. Hines and J. Rowland in an Elliott trap baited with peanut butter, oats and bacon. FIGURE 5. A. arktos holotype specimen photographs of skull and dentary (a–f): a. skull, top view; b. skull, bottom view; c. skull, side view; d. dentary, top view; e. dentary, bottom view; f. dentary, side view. Photographs are Copyright Andrew Baker. PARATYPE : The paratype specimen, QM JM20010 , was collected 28 May 2013 by A.M.Baker , T . Y. Mutton , H. Hines and J. Rowland from Bilbrough Lookout, Springbrook National Park , SEQ 28° 14´03˝ S 153° 17´23˝ E . This specimen was photographed live by Qld Museum photographer Gary Cranitch prior to accession into the Qld Museum collection (see Figure 4 ). Figure 5 shows features of the skull, dentary and teeth of the holotype specimen . REFERRED SPECIMENS: ( JM prefixes are from the Queensland Museum ; M prefixes are from the Australian Museum ). These specimens were formalin-fixed and old so genetics was not possible. For the following adults skull morphology was used to confirm species identification as A. arktos : males JM834 O’Reilly’s Guest House , SEQ 28° 13´S 153° 07´E ; JM835 Binna Burra Lodge , SEQ 28° 12´S 153° 11´E ; JM836 Dave’s Creek Country Binna Burra , SEQ 28° 13´S 153° 13´E ; JM2281 O’Reilly’s Guest House , SEQ 28° 14´S 153° 08´E (all preceding localities are within or immediately adjacent to Lamington NP ) ; M20605 Eastern Border Ranges NP , NENSW 28° 23´S 153° 04´E , females : JM1595 Warrie NP (now within Springbrook NP ) , SEQ 28° 13´S 153° 16´E ; JM7949 Eastern Border Ranges NP , NENSW 28° 25´S 153° 07´E . In addition two juvenile specimens are assigned to A. arktos on the basis of external morphology: JM1594 National Park 752 (now within Springbrook NP ) 28° 14´S 153° 16´E , SEQ and M20606 Eastern Border Ranges , NENSW 28° 22´S 153° 06´E . Holotype locality. A small gully near Best of All Lookout , Mount Mumdjin , Springbrook National Park , south-east Queensland , Australia ( 28° 14´29.6˝ S 153° 15´50.6˝ E . Datum: GDA 94), 950m altitude. Distribution. All specimens are from upland, high rainfall vegetation communities of the Tweed Shield Volcano caldera in south-east Queensland and north-east New South Wales . The species is currently only known from Springbrook NP, Lamington NP and Border Ranges NP (eastern section only). The following museum specimens from north-east New South Wales were registered as A. swainsonii but on re-examination by us were clearly not A. arktos or A. swainsonii : Australian Museum M31942 Grafton (reidentified as A. flavipes ); Australian Museum M29214 Conglomerate State Forest (reidentified as A. stuartii ); Australian Museum M12631 Coffs Harbour (reidentified as A. stuartii ); Australian National Wildlife Collection M24077 Tooloom (reidentified as A. stuartii ). There are published (e.g., Dickman, 1982 ) and unpublished records (e.g., Atlas of Living Australia , Atlas of NSW Wildlife) of A. swainsonii sensu lato between Ebor ( type locality for A. s. mimetes ) and the uplands of the Tweed caldera. However, without specimens and/or genetic samples we are unable to comment further on the identity of these records. Workers in this region are encouraged to retain voucher and tissue specimens to enable a better understanding of the distribution of A. arktos and A. s. mimetes . Diagnosis. Summary of external differences amongst congeners. Antechinus arktos differs clearly from all other antechinus species, in having a combination of large-bodied, very shaggy and black-tailed appearance. A. arktos is more vibrantly coloured than A. swainsonii . A. s. mimetes is more uniformly deep brown-black to grizzled grey-brown from head to rump, with brownish (clove brown – raw umber) hair on the upper surface of the hindfoot and tail, whereas A. arktos is more colourful, having a marked change from greyish-brown head to orange-brown toned rump, fuscous black on the upper surface of the hindfoot and dense, short fur on the evenly black tail. Further, there is no distinct eye-ring but A. arktos has marked orange-brown fur on the upper and lower eyelid, cheek and in front of the ear and very long guard hairs all over the body, giving it a distinctively shaggy appearance; these characters, in specimens where they exist, are more subtle in A. swainsonii . Summary of craniodental differences amongst congeners. A. arktos skulls are strikingly different to all subspecies of A. swainsonii . A. arktos are markedly larger than A. s. mimetes and A. s. swainsonii ( Tasmania ) for a range of craniodental measures, in particular: breadth across the snout, but with shorter anterior palatal vacuities and larger inter-palatal vacuity distance. Compared to all A. swainsonii subspecies, A. arktos skulls are most similar in size to A. s. insulanus from Grampians NP, Victoria . Nevertheless, there are a range of skull characters that differ between A. arktos and A. s. insulanus : A. arktos tend to have smaller upper second molar teeth but broader skulls, shorter anterior palatal vacuities and longer posterior palatal vacuities than A. s. insulanus .