Antechinus argentus, Baker, Mutton & Hines, 2013

Baker, Andrew M, Mutton, Thomas Y & Hines, Harry B, 2013, A new dasyurid marsupial from Kroombit Tops, south-east Queensland, Australia: the Silver-headed Antechinus, Antechinus argentus sp. nov. (Marsupialia: Dasyuridae), Zootaxa 3746 (2), pp. 201-239 : 220

(13) A. argentus versus A. minimus (Geoffroy)

Pelage: A. argentus has finer fur and a silvery head and neck that merge subtly to deep olive-buff coloured fur on the rump and flanks; A. minimus has coarser fur and a leaden grey head that merges to brownish yellow fur on the rump and flanks.

External measurements: A. argentus is smaller than A. minimus in absolute measurement for two external body characters in females: wt and hb and one external body character in males: tv (see Table 4). Wt differences were rendered non-significant because of small sample size in female A. argentus and A. minimus (n = 2 and n=1 for body weight, respectively).

Dentary: Antechinus argentus is smaller than A. minimus in absolute measurement for a range of dentary characters in males and females, as follows: APV, IOW, HT, HT-B, I 1 -P 3, I 1 -P 3 and UPL. Antechinus argentus is also smaller than A. minimus in absolute measurement for a range of dentary characters in females only, as follows: BL, Dent, PPV, PL and NWR (Table 4).

Other Comments: A. argentus occurs in south-east Qld at Kroombit Tops NP, whereas A. minimus is known from only coastal Vic and SA, and Tas. Genetics: Uncorrected pairwise range differences at the mitochondrial gene CytB between A. argentus and A. minimus are 13.9–14.7%.