The Black-tailed Antechinus, Antechinus arktos sp. nov.: a new species of carnivorous marsupial from montane regions of the Tweed Volcano caldera, eastern Australia
Author
Dyck, Steve Van
Queensland Museum, Vertebrate Zoology (Mammals & Birds), PO Box 3300, South Brisbane, Qld, 4101, Australia
text
Zootaxa
2014
2014-02-17
3765
2
101
133
journal article
5910
10.11646/zootaxa.3765.2.1
300ad198-2377-4bfd-9381-6868ee9c5f7a
1175-5326
5045725
E7DDABDA-5DA6-4309-A26F-121FCB030EEE
(1)
A. arktos
versus
A. swainsonii swainsonii
(Waterhouse)
Pelage:
A. arktos
has a brownish-grey head that changes markedly to an orange-brown rump, fuscous black hindfeet, a thick-based, finely-furred, black tail and an orange-yellow eye and cheek patch;
A. s.
swainsonii
has more uniformly dark brown or grizzled grey fur on the head and back, with a subtly brownish rump, as well as dark brownish hindfeet and tail.
External Measurements:
A. arktos
males have significantly longer tails than
A. s.
swainsonii
(see
Tables 1
,
2
and
5
).
Craniodental Characters:
A. arktos
is smaller than
A. s.
swainsonii
in absolute measurement for APV in males and females.
A. arktos
is larger than
A. s.
swainsonii
in absolute measurement in males for the following characters: IBW, IPV, NW, R-LM
1
, R-LM
3
and NWR, and in females for the following characters: IPV, TC, UML.
A. arktos
is also significantly larger than
A. s.
swainsonii
in the following measures: in males, R-LC
1
, SWR-LC
1
B, TC and UML; in females, M
2
W (
Tables 1
,
2
and
5
).
Other Comments:
A. arktos
occur in south-east Qld and north-east NSW in areas of high elevation and rainfall on the Tweed Volcano caldera, whereas
A. s.
swainsonii
is known from a range of habitat
types
limited to
Tasmania
. Genetics: uncorrected pairwise range differences at the mitochondrial gene CytB between
A. arktos
and
A. s.
swainsonii
are 10.8-11.8%.