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 : 19-20

(5) A. flavipes flavipes versus bellus

Pelage: A. flavipes flavipes has a grey head that merges to medium orange-yellow tonings on the rump, flanks and tail base, whereas A. bellus is a strikingly pale animal: pale to medium grey above, sometimes with a fawn tinge, with pale grey chin, belly, hands and feet.

External measurements: A. f. flavipes is smaller than A. bellus in absolute measurement (i.e., with no overlap in ranges) for ear length in females only. A. f. flavipes is significantly smaller than A. bellus for head-body length, tail-vent length and hind foot length in both sexes. A. f. flavipes is significantly smaller than A. bellus for ear length in males ( Table 2).

Skull: A. f. flavipes differs from A. bellus in absolute measurement (i.e., with no overlap in ranges) for the following skull/dentary characters: in males—larger IOW and smaller R-LM 1 and R-LM 2 and in females—smaller R-LM 1 and R-LM 2. A. f. flavipes has numerous other dentary features that significantly (p<0.01) differ from A. bellus — 10 variables for males and 15 for females, as shown in Table 2.

Other Comments: A. f. flavipes has a simple, uncurled supratragus on the external ear; A. bellus has a curled supratragus. A. f. flavipes females have 10–14 pouch nipples, whereas A. bellus females have10 pouch nipples. A. f. flavipes is found in south-eastern Australia, across 4 states: Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia whereas A. bellus is restricted to the north wet-dry tropics of the Northern Territory. Genetics: uncorrected pairwise range differences at the mitochondrial gene Cytochrome B (CytB) between A. f. flavipes and A. bellus are 9.7–10.9%.