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 : 52-53

(10) A. flavipes rubeculus versus A. stuartii

Pelage: A. flavipes rubeculus has a greyish head that merges to orange-red tonings on the rump and flanks, whereas A. stuartii is more uniformly brownish-grey from head to rump. A. flavipes rubeculus has a darkened tail tip, whereas A. stuartii typically has no evidence of a noticeably darkened tail tip. A. flavipes rubeculus has yelloworange fur on the upper surface of hind feet, whereas A. stuartii has light brownish fur on the upper surface of the hind feet.

External measurements: A. f. rubeculus is larger than A. stuartii in absolute measurement (i.e., with no overlap in ranges) for body weight in males only. A. f. rubeculus is significantly larger than A. stuartii for head-body length and hind foot length in males and in body weight, head-body length and hind foot length for females (Table 6).

Skull: A. f. rubeculus differs from A. stuartii 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, R-LM 2, UML and LML, and in females—larger BL, Dent, IPV, M 2 W, OBW, R-LC 1, R-LM 1, R-LM 1 T, R-LM 2, R-LM 3, ZW, HT, PL, SWR-LC 1 B, UML and LML. A. f. rubeculus has numerous other dentary features that significantly (p<0.01) differ from A. stuartii —16 variables for males and 12 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. stuartii is found in eastern Australia from a southerly attitude of about Sydney, New South Wales north to around Cunningham’s Gap in south-east Queensland. Genetics: uncorrected pairwise range differences at the mitochondrial gene Cytochrome B (CytB) between A. f. rubeculus and A. stuartii are 13.5–15.3%.