Antechinus mysticus, Baker, Mutton & Van Dyck, 2012

Dyck, Steve Van, 2014, The Black-tailed Antechinus, Antechinus arktos sp. nov.: a new species of carnivorous marsupial from montane regions of the Tweed Volcano caldera, eastern Australia, Zootaxa 3765 (2), pp. 101-133 : 118

(14) A. arktos versus A. mysticus Baker, Mutton & Van Dyck

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. mysticus has a greyish-brown head and neck, merging gradually to yellowish-buff on the rump and flanks, with a buff-brown tail base and slightly darkened tip.

External Measurements: A. arktos is significantly larger than A. mysticus in hf for males and females, and in wt, hb and tv for males ( Table 5).

Craniodental Characters: A. arktos is significantly smaller than A. mysticus for R-LC 1 in males and SWR-LC 1 B in females. A. arktos is larger than A. mysticus in absolute measurement for a range of characters in males and females: APV, BL, Dent, IBW, IOW, HT, PL, TC, NWR, PML, UML, HT-B, I 1 -P 3, LML, I 1 -P 3 and UPL. A. arktos is significantly larger than A. mysticus for a range of characters in males: NW, OBW and PPV, and in females at: OBW and M 2 W ( Table 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. mysticus occurs in scattered coastal populations between the Qld / NSW border in far south-east Qld and Eungella NP near Mackay in mid-east Qld. Genetics: uncorrected pairwise range differences at the mitochondrial gene Cytochrome B (CytB) between A. arktos and A. mysticus are 13.2–14.1%.