Antechinus flavipes subsp. flavipes, flavipes

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 : 26

(12) A. flavipes flavipes versus A. swainsonii

Pelage: A. flavipes flavipes has a grey head that merges to medium orange-yellow tonings on the rump, flanks and tail base, whereas A. swainsonii is more uniformly dark brown or grizzled grey from head to rump. A. flavipes flavipes has shorter, less curved claws on hands and feet than A. swainsonii .

External measurements: There are no absolute (i.e., with no overlap in ranges) differences for external body measures between A. flavipes flavipes and A. swainsonii in either males or females; A. f. flavipes has significantly smaller head-body length and hind foot length than A. swainsonii in males and females; A. f. flavipes has significantly smaller tail-vent length than A. swainsonii in males ( Table 2).

Skull: A. f. flavipes differs from A. swainsonii in absolute measurement (i.e., with no overlap in ranges) for the following skull / dentary characters: in males—smaller APV, IOW, I 1 -P 3, I 1 -P 3, UPL and larger M 2 W, and in females—smaller APV, IOW, PPV, HT-B, I 1 -P 3, I 1 -P 3, UPL and larger M 2 W, R-LM 1 T. A. f. flavipes has numerous other dentary features that significantly (p<0.01) differ from A. swainsonii —19 variables for males and 14 for females, as shown in Table 2.

Other Comments: A. f. flavipes females have 10–14 pouch nipples, whereas A. swainsonii females have 6–10 pouch nipples. A. f. flavipes is found in south-eastern Australia, across 4 states: Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia; in southern New South Wales and southern-eastern Victoria, A. f. flavipes is typically not found near the coast. A. swainsonii is found in Tasmania, Victoria, New South Wales and far south-eastern Queensland, in mainly coastal environments. Genetics: uncorrected pairwise range differences at the mitochondrial gene Cytochrome B (CytB) between A. f. flavipes and A. swainsonii are 15.5–16.0%.