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

(3) A. flavipes rubeculus versus A. adustus

Pelage: A. flavipes rubeculus has a greyish head that merges to orange-reddish tonings on the flanks and rump; A. adustus has more uniformly dark brown fur with rusty tips on the head and back. A. f. rubeculus has orangeyellow fur on upper surface of hind feet, whereas A. adustus has dark grey feet.

External measurements: A. f. rubeculus is larger than A. adustus 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. adustus for head-body length and hind foot length in males, and in head-body length in females (Table 6).

Skull: A. f. rubeculus differs from A. adustus in absolute measurement (i.e., with no overlap in ranges) for the following skull/dentary characters: in males—larger BL, Dent, M 2 W, R-LC 1, R-LM 1, R-LM 1 T, R-LM 2, HT, PL, SWR-LC 1 B, PML, UML, BuL 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, PML, UML, BuL and LML. A. f. rubeculus has numerous other dentary features that significantly (p<0.01) differ from A. adustus —8 variables for males and 3 for females, as shown in Table 6.

Other Comments: Genetics: uncorrected pairwise range differences at the mitochondrial gene Cytochrome B (CytB) between A. f. rubeculus and A. adustus are 8.8–9.5%.