Antechinus allanii Krefft, 1872b

Parnaby, Harry E., Ingleby, Sandy & Divljan, Anja, 2017, Type Specimens of Non-fossil Mammals in the Australian Museum, Sydney, Records of the Australian Museum 69 (5), pp. 277-420 : 304-305

Antechinus allanii Krefft, 1872b species inquirenda

The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (new series) vol. XIV, nu. 644, p. 554, col. 1. (2 November 1872).

Common name. Brown Antechinus .

Current name. Antechinus stuartii Macleay, 1841 . Provisionally recognized here as a junior synonym of A. stuartii Macleay. This entity is an overlooked name and its taxonomic status awaits further enquiry; it is therefore a species inquirenda.

Syntypes. (3, by subsequent determination). All registered in c. 1878 and entered in Palmer Register as Manning River , from W. Allan. PA.658, male, skull, skin mount ( Figs 5–6 ). PA.659, female, subadult, body in alc. PA.660, indeterminate sex, body in alc. (original Palmer Register entry states “headless”). Specimen not sighted in 2017 .

Condition. PA.658, cranium missing occipital area, hole in left parietal, missing anterior part of both nasal bones, missing right occipital condyle; right dentary missing coronoid process. Skin mount, left ear torn, bald patch on the dorsal surface of the snout, bald patches on the ventral surface and ventral surface of front limbs, tail tip is fractured. PA.659, body in alc. somewhat faded, with bald patch on ventral surface. PA.660, condition unknown.

Cranial measurements (mm). PA.658: ConL, 27.99; NasL, —; NasB, 4.43; UC1–C1 (alv.), 4.65; APV, 2.17; PPV, 5.52; PAL, 14.87; UPM (alv.), 1.08; UMR (alv.), 6.45; ZB, 15.95; POC, 6.95; BUL, 3.80; MB, 12.47; DL (condyl.), 20.92; LPM (alv.), 1.01; LMR (alv.), 7.07.

Type locality. Manning River, NSW ( Krefft, 1872b).

Comments. We have not found any reference to this taxon in the taxonomic literature and Figs 5–6 appear to be the first published illustrations of what we consider is likely to be Krefft’s original material and recognized here as syntypes. Although evidently either overlooked or ignored in the past, it appears to be an available name and we treat this taxon as an overlooked junior synonym of stuartii . Krefft (1872b) named this taxon after Mr W. Allan of Kimbriki, who evidently provided the specimen(s) but Krefft does not indicate the number of specimens examined. Krefft states that allanii “… may be distinguished by its larger size, soft fur and rather longer tail” but noted that he had not had the opportunity to examine skull or dental criteria which he considered more useful in species diagnosis. Krefft diagnosed allanii in relation to the species arrangement recognized by Gould (1863b), in which stuartii was considered conspecific with flavipes .

We provisionally assign this taxon to A. stuartii but its taxonomic status needs to be assessed in light of the considerable morphological variation in NSW populations of A. stuartii and A. agilis noted by Crowther (2002). A taxonomic revision of A. stuartii is underway by a team led by Andrew Baker (Andrew Baker pers. comm. July 2016). Syntype skull PA.658 is not fully adult as reflected by the unfused basioccipital–basisphenoid suture. Skull dimensions of this specimen fall in a zone of overlap for the key diagnostic measurements cited by Crowther (2002) for separating adult male A. agilis from A. stuartii . Measurements taken as per Crowther (2002) are: condylobasal length (from anterior of I 1 to anterior margin of foramen magnum), c. 25.5 mm; Zygomatic breadth, 15.95 mm; Snout breadth at canines, 4.75 mm and Snout–canine depth, 4.8 mm.

Figures

Figure 5. Skin mount of AM PA.658, syntype of Antechinus allanii Krefft, 1872b. (Photography by Sally Cowan).

Figure 6. Skull ofAM PA.658,syntype ofAntechinus allanii Krefft, 1872b. (Photography by Stuart Humphreys).