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 : 54

(12) A. flavipes rubeculus versus A. swainsonii

Pelage: A. flavipes rubeculus has a greyish head that merges to orange-red tonings on the rump and flanks, whereas A. swainsonii is more uniformly dark brown or grizzled grey from head to rump.

External measurements: There are no absolute (i.e., with no overlap in ranges) or significant differences in external body measures between A. flavipes rubeculus and A.swainsonii (Table 6).

Skull: A. f. rubeculus differs from A. swainsonii in absolute measurement (i.e., with no overlap in ranges) for the following skull / dentary characters: in males—larger IPV, M 2 W, R-LC 1, R-LM 1 and smaller APV, IOW, I 1 -P 3, UPL, and in females—larger IPV, M 2 W, R-LC 1, R-LM 1, R-LM 2, R-LM 3, SWR-LC 1 B, BuL and smaller APV, PPV, I 1 -P 3, I 1 -P 3. A. f. rubeculus has numerous other dentary features that significantly (p<0.01) differ from A. swainsonii —11 variables for males and 10 for females, as shown in Table 6.

Other Comments: A. f. rubeculus is found only in the wet tropics of north-east Queensland, whereas A. swainsonii is found in Tasmania, Victoria, New South Wales and far south-eastern Queensland, in mainly coastal environments. Genetics: uncorrected pairwise range differences at the mitochondrial gene Cytochrome B (CytB) between A. f. rubeculus and A. swainsonii is 15.3–16.1%.