Antechinus flavipes subsp. leucogaster

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 : 39

(9) A. flavipes leucogaster versus A. mysticus

Pelage: A. flavipes leucogaster has a grey head that merges to orange-fawn brown tonings on the rump, flanks and tail base, whereas A. mysticus has paler buff fur on the upper surface of the hind feet and tail base.

External measurements: A. f. leucogaster is smaller than A. mysticus in absolute measurement (i.e., with no overlap in ranges) for no external characters as far as we know. A. f. leucogaster is significantly smaller in tail-vent length than A. mysticus for females (Table 4).

Skull: A. f. leucogaster differs from A. mysticus in absolute measurement (i.e., with no overlap in ranges) for no skull / dentary characters as far as we know. However, A. f. leucogaster has several dentary features that significantly (p<0.01) differ from A. mysticus —1 variable for males and 3 for females, as shown in Table 4.

Other Comments: A. f. leucogaster is found only in south-western Western Australia, whereas A. mysticus is found in eastern, coastal Queensland, ranging from just north of the Queensland / New South Wales border to Mackay, mid-east Queensland. A. mysticus appears to be limited in at least part of its range, probably only occurring in small, scattered populations along the 650 kilometres of coastline between Gympie (south-east) and Mackay (mid-east) Queensland (AMB, personal observation). Genetics: uncorrected pairwise range differences at the mitochondrial gene Cytochrome B (CytB) between A. f. leucogaster and A. mysticus are 8.6–8.9%.