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 : 45

(4) A. flavipes rubeculus versus A. agilis

Pelage: A. flavipes rubeculus has a greyish head that merges to orange-reddish tonings on the rump, flanks and tail base, whereas A. agilis is more uniformly medium grey to greyish-brown from head to rump. A. f. rubeculus has orange-yellow fur on upper surface of hind feet, whereas A. adustus has light brownish fur on the upper surface of hind feet.

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

Skull: A. f. rubeculus differs from A. agilis in absolute measurement (i.e., with no overlap in ranges) for the following skull/dentary characters: in males—larger BL, Dent, IPV, M 2 W, OBW, R-LC 1, R-LM 1, R-LM 1 T, R-LM 2, PL, SWR-LC 1 B, PML, UML, I 1 -P 3, LML and M 2 W; and in females—larger BL, Dent, IPV, M 2 W, NW, OBW, R- LC 1, R-LM 1 T, ZW, PL, SWR-LC 1 B, UML, LML and M 2 W. Further, A. f. rubeculus has numerous dentary features that significantly (p<0.01) differ from A. agilis —9 variables for males and 11 for females, as shown in Table 6.

Other Comments: A. f. rubeculus is found in the wet tropics of north-east Queensland. A. agilis is found in south-eastern Australia, south of around Sydney (New South Wales) to south-east South Australia. Genetics: uncorrected pairwise range differences at the mitochondrial gene Cytochrome B (CytB) between A. f. rubeculus and A. agilis are 14.5–15.0%.