THE MARDO AN EXAMINATION OF GEOGRAPHIC VARIATION IN MORPHOLOGY AND REPRODUCTIVE POTENTIAL IN ANTECHINUS FLAVIPES IN SOUTHWESTERN AUSTRALIA

WA Museum Records and Supplements | Updated 1 decade ago

 Abstract - The locality of Western Australian Museum specimens of Antechinus flavipes from southwestern Australia exhibits a marked disjunction in the species distribution. The northern distribution is characterised by females that have 10 nipples, while the southern distribution has females with 8 nipples; the two distributions come into close proximity east of Albany. Strong sexual dimorphism exists in both external and cranial variables within the two distributions. Although the cranial and external variables of each sex do not differ significantly between populations, multivariate analyses indicate that females of the two distributions show a strong separation in cranial variables on the first canonical variate. Variation in reproductive potential, as evidenced by differing nipple number, and molecular genetic studies of congeners in eastern Australia indicate the presence of cryptic species in Antechinus, suggesting a molecular examination of the two distributional groups in Western Australia is warranted.