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 : 23

(9) A. flavipes flavipes versus A. mysticus

Pelage: A. flavipes flavipes has a grey head that merges to medium orange-yellow 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. A. flavipes flavipes has a complete pale eye ring and notably darkened tail tip, whereas A. mysticus typically has a broken eye ring (patches of ‘eyeliner’ above and below) and a more subtly darkened tail tip.

External measurements: A. f. flavipes is smaller than A. mysticus in absolute measurement (i.e., with no overlap in ranges) for no external characters as far as we know. There were no significant differences in external body measures, although A. flavipes flavipes tends to be heavier than A. mysticus in both males and females ( Table 2).

Skull: A. f. flavipes 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. flavipes has numerous dentary features that significantly (p<0.01) differ from A. mysticus —8 variables for males and 11 for females, as shown in Table 2.

Other Comments: A. f. flavipes females have 10–14 pouch nipples, whereas A. mysticus females have 8 pouch nipples. A. f. flavipes is found in south-eastern Australia, across 4 states: Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, and in Queensland is only found south of Rockhampton. 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. flavipes and A. mysticus are 10.4–11.7%.