Taxonomy and redescription of the Fawn Antechinus, Antechinus bellus (Thomas) (Marsupialia: Dasyuridae)
Dyck, Steve Van
Zootaxa
2013
2013-02-11
3613
3
201
228
5V9SM
Thomas
1904
[192,298,151,177]
Mammalia
Dasyuridae
Antechinus
Animalia
Dasyuromorphia
14
215
Chordata
species
bellus
Pelage: Antechinus bellusis a strikingly pale animal: pale to medium grey above, sometimes with a faun tinge, whereas A. subtropicusis uniformly brownish from head to rump. External measurements: Antechinus bellusis larger than A. subtropicusin absolute measurement (i.e., with no overlap in ranges) for no external characters in males, but the following character in females: ear length. A. bellusis significantly larger than A. subtropicusfor both males and females in hindfoot length and tail length, and for males in ear length (Table 2). Skull: Antechinus bellusdiffers from A. subtropicusin absolute measurement (i.e., with no overlap in ranges) for the following 10 skull / dentary characters for males: IOW, IPV, NW, PPV, R-LC 1, R-LM 1, R-LM 2, R-LM 3, TC and BuL and the following 11 skull / dentary characters for females: IOW, IPV, M 2W, PPV, R-LC 1, R-LM 1, R-LM 2, R-LM 3, HT, BuL and LML. Moreover, A. bellushas a range of other dentary features that significantly (p<0.01) differ from A. subtropicus—12 variables for males and 10 variables for females, as shown in Table 2. Other comments: Antechinus bellusis found in savannah woodlands of the Top End, Northern Territory, whereas A. subtropicusis found in closed subtropical forests of coastal eastern Australia( Van Dyck and Crowther, 2000) from about Kyogle, NSW in the south to Gympie, Qld, in the north. A. bellusfemales have 10 nipples in the pouch, whereas A. subtropicusfemales have 8 nipples in the pouch. A. belluspossesses a distally thickened and twisted supratragus of the ear rather than the simple, uncurled structure found in A. subtropicus. Genetics: uncorrected pairwise difference at the mitochondrial gene Cytochrome B (CytB) between A. bellusand A. subtropicusis 13.8%.