Antechinus mysticus, Baker, Andrew M, Mutton, Thomas Y & Dyck, Steve Van, 2012

Baker, Andrew M, Mutton, Thomas Y & Dyck, Steve Van, 2012, A new dasyurid marsupial from eastern Queensland, Australia: the Buff-footed Antechinus, Antechinus mysticus sp. nov. (Marsupialia: Dasyuridae), Zootaxa 3515, pp. 1-37 : 8-13

Antechinus mysticus , sp. nov.

(the Buff-footed Antechinus )

Etymology. The species name refers to the mysterious ‘Yellow-footed Antechinus’ from western Brisbane, which has periodically puzzled Qld Museum Mammal Senior Curator Dr Steve Van Dyck, for the past 35 years.

Material. Holotype: QM JM 19707, adult male skull, dentary and frozen body; Collected 30 June 2011 by S. Van Dyck from his kitchen cupboard, 683 Cedar Creek Rd, Samford 27°19´56˝ S 152°48´26˝ E. The holotype specimen was photographed by Qld Museum photographer Gary Cranitch prior to accession into the Qld Museum collection (see Figure 4 ). Figure 5 shows features of the skull, dentary and teeth of the holotype specimen.

Other material. (alphabetical by site for females then males): Binna Burra via Beechmont 28° 12ʼ S 153° 11ʼ E (female J6640); Blackdown Tableland National Park 23° 48ʼ S 149° 0 8ʼ E (female JM4941); Blackdown Tableland National Park 23° 47ʼ S 149° 0 2ʼ E (female JM13472); Bulburin State Forest 24° 31ʼ S 151° 29ʼ E (female JM1416); Cedar Creek Rd, Samford 27° 20ʼ S 152° 48ʼ E (female JM18473); Cedar Creek Rd, Samford 27° 20ʼ S 152° 49ʼ E (female JM19703); Cedar Creek Rd, Samford 27° 19ʼ S, 152° 47ʼ E (female JM19705); Dawson Creek Rd, Highvale 27° 23ʼ S 152° 50ʼ E (female JM510); Eungella National Park, via Mackay 21° 10ʼ S 148° 30ʼ E (female JM17143); Gheerulla State Forest 26° 35ʼ S 152° 46ʼ E (female JM19698); Glasshouse Mountains 26° 55ʼ S 152° 56ʼ E (female JM14781); Imbil State Forest 26° 37ʼ S 152° 39ʼ E (female JM19704); Jolly’s Lookout 27° 24ʼ S 152° 48ʼ E (female JM19699); Kirk Road, Samford 27° 20ʼ S 152° 49ʼ E (female JM19700); Kirk Road, Samford 27° 20ʼ S 152° 49ʼ E (female JM19702); Kondalilla NP 26° 41ʼ S 152° 49ʼ E (female JM19701); Kroombit Tops National Park 24° 22ʼ S 151° 0 1ʼ E (female JM10945); Mount Blackwood, Pioneer Peaks National Park 21° 0 1ʼ S 148° 56ʼ E (female JM13478); Obi Obi Creek, Baroon Pocket 26° 43ʼ S 152° 52ʼ E (female JM4936); Seary’s Scrub, Cooloola 26° 0 0ʼ S 153° 0 4ʼ E (female JM1234); Wentworth Ave, Mt Nebo 27° 25ʼ S 152° 47ʼ E female (JM7165); Broken River, Eungella 21° 11ʼ S 148° 32ʼ E (male J10031 ); Broken River, Eungella 21° 11ʼ S 148° 32ʼ E (male J10032 ); Bulburin State Forest 24° 35ʼ S 151° 30ʼ E (male JM9678); Cedar Creek Rd, Samford 27° 20ʼ S 152° 49ʼ E (male JM19710); Crediton State Forest 21° 19ʼ S 148° 34ʼ E (male JM19276); Eungella National Park, via Mackay 21° 10ʼ S 148° 30ʼ E (male JM19711); Jolly’s Lookout 27° 24ʼ S 152° 48ʼ E (male JM19706); Jolly’s Lookout 27° 24ʼ S 152° 48ʼ E (male JM19708); Jolly’s Lookout 27° 24ʼ S 152° 48ʼ E (male JM19709); Little Yabba Creek, via Kennelworth 26° 36ʼ S 152° 35ʼ E (male JM1415); male JM7073; male JM7069.

Type locality. Steve Van Dyck’s kitchen cupboard, 683 Cedar Creek Road, Samford, 27°19´56˝ S 152°48´26˝ E, western Brisbane, south-east Qld.

Distribution. Between south-east Qld (in and around D’Aguilar NP west of Brisbane and further south near Binna Burra and the Qld/NSW border) and Eungella, near Mackay in mid-east Qld (see Figure 6 ). To date, A. mysticus has not been found west of the Great Dividing Range but based on general knowledge of habitat preference may well occur west of the Great Divide, south of the Qld border into north-east NSW, and north of Mackay.

Diagnosis.

Summary of external differences amongst congeners. Antechinus mysticus differs from all other antechinus , except A. flavipes and A. minimus (Geoffroy) , in having a change in fur colouring from grizzled greyish head and shoulders to warmer rufous rump and sides. A. mysticus differs from A. flavipes in being generally drabber in appearance, having buff coloured (rather than orange-toned) fur on the upper hind feet and underside of tail base. Also, the light eye patch is usually broken in front of and behind the eye in A. mysticus , but complete in A. flavipes . The darkened tail tip is less contrasting with tail base colour in A. mysticus than in A. flavipes . A. mysticus is often smaller than eastern Australian A. flavipes (Tables 1–2).

A. mysticus fur is fine, whereas A. minimus fur is coarser and more grizzled. A. mysticus (body weight of males <50g, females <35g) is also notably smaller than A. minimus (body weight of males> 50g, females> 35g). A total of 15 A. mysticus females in reproductive condition from 8 sites in SE Qld were examined and all had 8 nipples in the pouch; A. flavipes females have 10 nipples in the pouch in south-eastern Australia ( A. flavipes flavipes ) and south-western Australia ( A. flavipes leucogaster ) and 6–8 nipples in the pouch in north-eastern Australia ( A. flavipes rubeculus ).

A. subtropicus and A. flavipes flavipes are sympatric with A. mysticus in south-east Qld and A. stuartii is known from sites in south-east Qld about 15–20km south of the known southern limit of A. mysticus . However, A.

subtropicus and A. stuartii appear more uniformly brown across the head and back, without the change from greyish head to buff-yellow rump and flanks evident in A. mysticus .

Species by species differences. For relevance and to facilitate direct comparison, univariate statistics (means, standard deviations, range minima and maxima) are shown for each of the external and internal (cranial/dental) measures for five antechinus species— Antechinus mysticus , and the four congeners that may occur in its known geographical proximity: A. flavipes flavipes , A. stuartii , A. subtropicus and A. swainsonii (refer Tables 1–5). All ANOVAs of measured variables among all antechinus species were significant (Table 6).

Figures

FIGURE 4. Photograph of live A. mysticus holotype specimen.

FIGURE 6. Map of known distribution site records of A. mysticus. Grey squares denote locations of major cities; black circles denote unique site records of A. mysticus.

FIGURE 5. A. mysticus holotype specimen stereo microscope photographs of skull and dentary (a-e) and SEM photographs of lower molar tooth row of right dentary from labial view (f) with entoconids arrowed, lower molar tooth row of left dentary from above (g) and upper molar tooth row from below (h).