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 : 33

(3) A. flavipes leucogaster versus A. adustus

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

External measurements: A. f. leucogaster is smaller than A. adustus in absolute measurement (i.e., with no overlap in ranges) for tail-vent length in females (Table 4).

Skull: A. f. leucogaster differs from A. adustus in absolute measurement (i.e., with no overlap in ranges) for the following skull/dentary characters: in males—larger BuL; and in females—larger R-LM 2, BuL and smaller NWR. A. f. leucogaster has numerous other dentary features that significantly (p<0.01) differ from A. adustus —7 variables for males and 7 for females, as shown in Table 4.

Other Comments: A. f. leucogaster females have 8–10 pouch nipples, whereas A. adustus females have 6 pouch nipples. A. f. leucogaster is found in south-western Western Australia whereas A. adustus is restricted to the wet tropics of north-east Queensland. Genetics: uncorrected pairwise difference at the mitochondrial gene Cytochrome B (CytB) between A. f. leucogaster and A. adustus is 9%.