Antechinus arktos, Baker, Mutton, Hines & Van Dyck, 2014

Russell A. Mittermeier & Don E. Wilson, 2015, Dasyuridae, Handbook of the Mammals of the World – Volume 5 Monotremes and Marsupials, Barcelona: Lynx Edicions, pp. 232-348 : 310-311

29.

Black-tailed Antechinus

Antechinus arktos

French: Antéchinus a queue noire / German: Schwarzschwanz-BreitfuRbeutelmaus / Spanish: Antequino de cola negra

Taxonomy. Aniechinus arkios Baker et al, 2014 ,

Best of All Lookouts , Mount Mumdjin , Springbrook National Park , south-east Queensland, Australia.

Prior to the mid-1960s, A. swainsonii mimetes had not been recorded north of the type locality, Guy Fawkes district, near Ebor in New England National Park, north-east ern New South Wales. Indeed, J. H. Calaby noted that A. swainsonii was not found in the upper Richmond and Clarence rivers region, although suitable habitat occurred there. Then, between 1966 and 1975, P. Ogilvie and S. Van Dyck captured four adult male A. swainsonii from Lamington National Park in Queensland, an adult female from Warrie (Springbrook National Park), and ajuvenile male from Numinbah, extending the distribution of A. swainsonii mimetes ¢.300 km north into Queensland. In 1988-1989, another few individuals were trapped at Brindle Creek in the Border Ranges National Park, far north-eastern New South Wales, 20-30 km south-west of the Queensland capture locations. In 2014, as part of a reassessment of the entire genus Antechinus, A. M. Baker and colleagues collected a few animals from Springbrook National Park in far south-eastern Queensland. Using genetics and morphology, they discovered that the far northern populations (Brindle Creek and the few Queensland sites), previously considered as A. swainsonii mimetes , were in fact a new species now called A. arktos . Researchers reported striking genetic differences between the two species; using mtDNA, A. swainsonii mimetes from near Ebor, Guy Fawkes (type locality of that species) in north-eastern New South Wales is 9-5% divergent from A. arkitos from its type locality at Springbrook National Park, Queensland, just 300 km north. In contrast, A. swainsonii mimetes from Ebor align closely with conspecifics from New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory, and Victoria; these animals are just 3% divergent across some 1000 km. Indeed, so strikingly different is the new species, A. arktos , that reconstructed phylogenies could not resolve clearsister relationships between A. swainsonii , A. arktos , and A. minimus. Monotypic.

Distribution. E Australia (SE Queensland and NE New South Wales), apparently limited to the Tweed Volcano caldera.

Descriptive notes. Head-body 10.9-14.5 cm (males) and 10.6-11.1 cm (females), tail 10-131 cm (males) and 9.4-10.7 cm (females); weight 59-7-120 g (males) and 46-3 g (females). There is marked sexual dimorphism for size. Compared with the Dusky Antechinus ( A. swainsonii ), the Black-tailed Antechinus is more vibrantly colored, with a marked change from grayish-brown head to orange-brown toned rump, fuscous black on uppersurfaces of hindfeet, and short fur on evenly black tail. The Dusky Antechinus (subspecies mimetes), in contrast, is more uniformly deep brownish-black to grizzled gray-brown from head to rump, with brownish hair on the upper surface of the hindfoot and tail. Further, the Black-tailed Antechinus has marked orange-brown fur on upper and lower eyelids, cheeks, and in front of ears and very long guard hairs all over its body, giving it a distinctively shaggy appearance; the Dusky Antechinus is subtler in these features. Skulls of the Black-tailed Antechinus are strikingly different from those of all three subspecies of the Dusky Antechinus. Skulls of the Black-tailed Antechinus are markedly larger than skulls of the Dusky Antechinus’s subspecies mimetes and subspecies swainsonui from Tasmania for a variety of cranio-dentary measurements, in particular breadth across snout, but with shorter anterior palatal vacuities and larger interpalatal vacuity (snout holes on underside of skull) distance. The Black-tailed Antechinusis more similar in size to the Dusky Antechinus’s subspecies insulanus from Grampians National Park, Victoria. Nevertheless, there are a variety of skull characteristics that differ between the Black-tailed Antechinus and the Dusky Antechinus’s subspecies insulanus: the Black-tailed Antechinus has smaller upper second molar teeth but a broader skull, shorter anterior palatal vacuities (front snout holes on underside of skull), and longer posterior palatal vacuities than the Dusky Antechinus’s subspecies insulanus.

Habitat. Complex notophyll vine forest (holotype) on Cainozoic igneous rocks at an elevation of 950 m, beside a moderately steep, boulder headwater gully with prominent stands of stream lily, Helmholtzia glaberrima (Philydraceae) . The gully rises in a small stand of simple microphyll fern forest with Antarctic Beech ( Nothofagus moorei , Nothofagaceae ), on Cainozoic igneous rocks. A paratype specimen was caught on 28 May 2013 at an elevation of 950 m at Bilbrough Lookout, Mount Thillinmam, in Springbrook National Park, c.2-5 km east of the type locality. Low canopy, dense vines, and rocky substrate characterize habitat at Bilbrough Lookout. A handful of specimens were caught between 1966 and 1977 in various areas offar south-eastern Queensland. Following is a series of habitat descriptions for Black-tailed Antechinuses, which encompasses a variety of closed and wet habitat types above 800 m. One animal was trapped by P. Ogilvie on 3 August 1966 in an area of mountain mallee heath, c.162 ha in size, on rhyolitic soils, in the Dave’s Creek area of Lamington National Park (28° 13’ S, 153° 13’ E, 840 m elevation). The area was surrounded by rainforest and wet sclerophyll forest. A prominent trachyte dyke known as Surprise Rock outcrops near the capture site. Plant species present included Leptospermum trinervium and L. polygalifolium ( Myrtaceae ), Banksia neoanglica (= B. spinulosa var. collina , Proteaceae ), Leucopogon melaleucoides (Epacridaceae) , Callistemon montanus (= Melaleuca montana , Myrtaceae ), Lepidosperma clipeicola (Cyperaceae) , and the mallee Eucalyptus codonocarpa (Myrtaceae) . At the capture site, heath was dense, forming a continuous canopy with isolated E. codonocarpa emergent to a height of 6-7 m, with a ground layer of herbs and sedges. Another Black-tailed Antechinus was trapped in rainforest near Binna Burra Lodge in Lamington National Park (28° 12’ S, 153° 11’ E, 780 m elevation) on 5 August 1974. The trap was located between buttress roots of a large fig (probably Ficus watkinsiana , Moraceae ). The patch of rainforest contained a number of trees of the myrtle family such as mature eucalypts ( Eucalyptus microcorys, E. grandis, E. saligna, and E. acmenoides) and Lophostemon confertus (= Tristania conferta ), suggesting the area was previously wet sclerophyll forest; the rainforest species may have become established as a result of changes in fire regime. A ground cover of ferns was also present. Habitat was complex notophyll vine forest and open forest of Eucalyptus eugenioides , E. biturbinata, and E. melliodora, both on Cainozoic igneous rocks. Another specimen was captured in the hand on 26 July 1975, c.1 km north-west of O’Reilly’s Guest House, in Lamington National Park (28° 13’ S, 153° 07° E, 900 m elevation). This individual was observed at 10:00 h, scurrying in leaf litter of a stand of regenerating rainforest in which the dominant species was Rhodomyrtus psidioides ( Myrtaceae ). One more individual was found dead by K. McDonald (QPWS) on a graded walking track, 80 m south of the track branch to The Canyon and Twin Falls, Springbrook National Park, c.400 m from park headquarters (28° 13’ S, 153° 16’ E, 780 m elevation) on 2 May 1971. The collection site was immediately adjacent to an area of tall, layered open forest dominated by Blue Mountain ash ( Eucalyptus oreades ) and New England ash (E. campanulata), with a dense understory of Callicoma serratifolia (Cunoniaceae) , a regrowth specieslikely present due to earlier logging activities.

Food and Feeding. Very little is known about diet and foraging habits of the Blacktailed Antechinus. In an enclosure containing soil, rocks, and leaves from its capture location, a Black-tailed Antechinus spent much time scuffling under soil and leaflitter, where it retrieved some small invertebrates in the soil. It would regularly almost vanish and then emerge covered in dirt and debris, sniffing the air.

Breeding. Very little is known about the ecology of the Black-tailed Antechinus because so few individuals have been captured. Nevertheless, researchers have made a number of descriptive observations. In early August 1966 and again in 1974, a male Black-tailed Antechinus was captured in the area around Binna Burra; this indicates that male dieoff extends at least into the first week of August in that area, because for all congeners, it is known that breeding is highly synchronized in a given locality across years. A male and female Black-tailed Antechinus from Brindle Creek in the Border Ranges of New South Wales were captured on 16 February 1989. The male had a fully descended P? and was thus considered adult; the female still had a milk tooth in place of P°. These individuals were presumably born the previous year within three weeks of each other: the male at the beginning of the breeding season and the female at the end. Antechinuses are usually no younger than five months of age before having a fully descended P?; this would put birth of the male at about September-October and thus conception at about August-September. The female would have been conceived presumably no more than three weeks later because in all known species of antechinus, breeding lasts 1-3 weeks. Taken together, mating in the Black-tailed Antechinus would be predicted to be about August-September. In the Dusky Antechinus’s subspecies mimetes, ovulation and mating occur later in higher elevations. Earliest mating has been recorded in May from the Central Coast district of New South Wales at an elevation of 380 m. In lowland Victoria, mating occurs in July-August but not until September in subalpine habitats. Parturition occurs c.28 days after mating. Young remain in the pouch for up to 60 days, after which the mother leaves them in the nest until they are c.10 weeks old; young are fully independent at c.13 weeks of age. If we apply this to the Black-tailed Antechinuses at Binna Burra, this would suggest that females give birth in about September-October, with young in the pouch until about November-December, and dispersal of fully mobile young predicted to fall around January-February. In a field study, several captures were made at Springbrook National Park on 28-29 May 2013; the male caught was adult, weighed only 60 g, and was in very good condition. Furthermore, the four females weighed 44-59 g, and their pouches were very hairy, showing no signs of development. In contrast, a male caught on 26July 1975 at O’Reilly’s, Lamington National Park, weighed a massive 120 g; this is markedly heavier than individuals at Springbrook National Park, although male antechinuses of large species are known to vary widely in body weight (e.g. male Dusky Antechinus are reported to be 42-178 g). Given their geographical proximity and that, within species of antechinus, a major factor contributing to mating timing differences is diel length, one might expect similar mating periods for other populations of Black-tailed Antechinus in Queensland, if they exist.

Activity patterns. While setting traps during a survey at the type locality on 28 May 2013, researchers saw a male Black-tailed Antechinus among the roots of an Antarctic beech ( Nothofagus moorei , Nothofagaceae ) at c.16:30 h. Despite efforts of three scientists, the individual escaped into thick undergrowth. One individual caught from this region the following day was held in captivity prior to being photographed live; after cautiously examining its surroundings, it would not use an exercise treadmill (many other species of antechinus will use a circular rat treadmill by running acrobatically on the underside of the spinning exercise wheel). When the cage roof was removed, rather than trying to escape, the individual hid quietly among the leaflitter. On investigating areas of the cage, it regularly reared onto its hindlegs to sniff the air, hence the specific epithet arktos, “bearlike.” In these more terrestrial and partly diurnal habits, the Black-tailed Antechinus appears similar to the Dusky Antechinus. Living up to their specific moniker of bearlike, Black-tailed Antechinuses are ferocious when cornered. They will hiss and spit in a trap and catch bag, and in hand, they can readily draw blood.

Movements, Home range and Social organization. Virtually nothing is known about the social behavior of the Black-tailed Antechinus. Interestingly, the four females captured across an area of a couple of hectares on 29 May 2013 were all caught in the same trap-line in traps only 40 m apart in a gully.

Status and Conservation. The Black-tailed Antechinus has not been classified on The IUCN Red List, however, it is evidently limited in its geographical extent (the Tweed caldera rim is only ¢.60 km from one side to the other) and abundance. Ogilvie caught the first Black-tailed Antechinus (a male) in the area of Dave’s Creek at Binna Burra in 1966. Subsequently, Van Dyck caught another male Black-tailed Antechinus in 1974, also at Binna Burra, at the Lodge Camp Site, after settingjust a few Elliott traps before dark. Almost a year later in 1975, Van Dyck caught a further male Black-tailed Antechinus at O’Reilly’s Guesthouse in Lamington National Park. Thirteen years later in 1988, H. B. Hines caught a female Black-tailed Antechinus in eastern Border Ranges National Park near Brindle Creek, north-eastern New South Wales. Hines captured another male and female Black-tailed Antechinus from Brindle Creek on 16 February 1989. Twenty-five years later (28-29 May 2013), Baker and others caught four female Black-tailed Antechinus in a gully trap line at the type locality, Best of All Lookouts in Springbrook, and a single male 2-5 km farther east on the caldera rim at Bilborough Lookout. The Black-tailed Antechinus may still exist at Bar Mountain and Brindle Creek in north-eastern New South Wales but, if so, likely in low numbers., The Black-tailed Antechinus may have retreated to the highest elevations of cloud forest in the Border Ranges, largely limited to areas supporting dense, wet rainforest including stands of Helmholtzia (Philydraceae) or Nothofagus . It seems likely that this has occurred in Queensland, with the Black-tailed Antechinus retreating to the wettest, highest, and coolest spot in the region in recent decades in Springbrook National Park—perhaps due to climate warming—because many thousands of trap nights in and around Lamington National Park in the last two decades have failed to recover a single individual. The holotype location at Best of All Lookouts is only within Queensland borders by some 50-100 m. Very few regions in the Border Ranges and Scenic Rim have a combination of high elevation, rainforest, and vegetation of this type, so the extent of the Black-tailed Antechinus is most likely limited to small, potentially isolated pockets. The Black-tailed Antechinus clearly prefers cold, high, wet, and forested environments, and there are scant few of these available in the 300 km between Guy Fawkes (Ebor) and Springbrook National Park. One study therefore tentatively recommended that the Black-tailed Antechinus be federally listed as threatened, pending results from ongoing surveys of the region. Applications are currently in review for listing it as endangered within Queensland and New South Wales.

Bibliography. Baker et al. (2014), Calaby (1966), Davison (1986, 1991), Dickman (1986, 2008b), Green, K. (2001), Green, R.H. (1972), Lunney et al. (2001), Menkhorst (1995a), Sanecki, Green, Wood & Lindenmayer (2006), Sanecki, Green, Wood, Lindenmayer & Sanecki (2006), Van Dyck (1997), Van Dyck & Ogilvie (1977), Wakefield & Warneke (1963), Waterhouse (1840), Williams & Williams (1982).

Figures

On following pages: 2. Crest-tailed Mulgara (Dasycercus cristicauda); 3. Kowari (Dasyuroides byrnei); 4. Kaluta (Dasykaluta rosamondae); 5. Dibbler (Parantechinus apicalis); 6. Woolley's Three-striped Dasyure (Myoictis leucura); 7. Miller's Three-striped Dasyure (Myoictis melas); 8. Wallace's Three-striped Dasyure (Myoictis wallacii); 9. Tate's Three-striped Dasyure (Myoictis wavicus); 10. Sandstone Pseudantechinus (Pseudantechinus bilarni); 11. Fat-tailed Pseudantechinus (Pseudantechinus macdonnellensis); 12. Carpentarian Pseudantechinus (Pseudantechinus mimulus); 13. Ningbing Pseudantechinus (Pseudantechinus ningbing); 14. Rory’s Pseudantechinus (Pseudantechinus roryi); 15. Woolley's Pseudantechinus (Pseudantechinus woolleyae); 16. Speckled Dasyure (Neophascogale lorentzii); 17. Red-bellied Phascogale (Phascolosorex doriae); 18. Narrow-striped Dasyure (Phascolosorex dorsalis).

Distribution. E Australia (SE Queensland and NE New South Wales), apparently limited to the Tweed Volcano caldera.