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 : 37

(6) A. flavipes leucogaster versus A. godmani

Pelage: A. flavipes leucogaster has a grey head that merges to orange-fawn brown tonings on the rump, flanks and tail base, whereas A. godmani is more uniformly brown on the head and back with orange toned cheeks.

External measurements: A. f. leucogaster is smaller than A. godmani in absolute measurement (i.e., with no overlap in ranges) for body weight and tail-vent length in both males and females, and in head-body length for females. A. f. leucogaster is significantly smaller than A. godmani for hind foot length in both sexes, and in headbody length for males (Table 4).

Skull: A. f. leucogaster differs from A. godmani in absolute measurement (i.e., with no overlap in ranges) for the following skull / dentary characters: in males—smaller BL, Dent, IBW, IOW, M 2 W, PPV, PL, TC, UML, I 1 -P 3, LML, I 1 -P 3 M 2 W and UPL and in females—smaller BL, Dent, IBW, IOW, M 2 W, PL, TC, PML, UML, I 1 -P 3, LML, I 1 -P 3, M 2 W and UPL. A. f. leucogaster has numerous other dentary features that significantly (p<0.01) differ from A. godmani —5 variables for males and 6 for females, as shown in Table 4.

Other Comments: A. f. leucogaster is found in south-western Western Australia, whereas A. godmani is restricted to wet tropics in north-east Queensland. Genetics: uncorrected pairwise range differences at the mitochondrial gene Cytochrome B (CytB) between A. f. leucogaster and A. godmani are 13.8–14.7%.