- Yellow-footed Antechinus
]
status = LC
status_system = iucn3.1
trend = stable
status_ref = [IUCN2008|assessors=Menkhorst, P., Friend, T., Burnett, S. & McKenzie, N.|year=2008|id=40524|title=Antechinus flavipes|downloaded=09 October 2008]
regnum =Animalia
phylum =Chordata
classis =Mammalia
infraclassis =Marsupialia
ordo =Dasyuromorphia
familia =Dasyuridae
genus = "Antechinus "
species = "A. flavipes"
binomial = "Antechinus flavipes"
binomial_authority = (Waterhouse,1838 )The Yellow-footed Antechinus ("Antechinus flavipes"), also known as the Mardo, is ashrew -likemarsupial found inAustralia . One notable feature of thespecies is its unusual sexual behavior. The male Yellow-footed Antechinus engages in such frenziedmating that it commonly dies of sexual stress.Taxonomy
The Yellow-footed Antechinus was described in 1838 by
George Robert Waterhouse , who noted its most distinctive feature in its species name "flavipes", which means "yellow-footed". The species has occasionally been combined with theBrown Antechinus ("A. stuartii").A member of the family
Dasyuridae , the Yellow-footed Antechinus is the most widespread of all the members of its genus, "Antechinus ".Three subspecies of the Yellow-footed Antechinus are recognised:
*"A. f. flavipes", found in southeasternQueensland ,New South Wales , Victoria andSouth Australia
*"A. f. leucogaster", found in southwesternWestern Australia
*"A. f. rubeculus", found in northeasternQueensland Description
The Yellow-footed Antechinus has a variable fur colour, but is generally somewhat greyish. Other notable features include a white eye-ring and a black tip to the tail.Citation|last=Van Dyck|first=S.M.|contribution=Yellow-footed Antechinus|title=The Mammals of Australia|year=1995|publisher=Reed Books|pages=86-88|editor-first=Ronald|editor-last=Strahan|id=ISBN 0-7301-0484-2] In size and body shape this species is fairly typical of its genus.
The Yellow-footed Antechinus differs from its relatives in its comparatively diurnal habits.cite book|first=Peter|last=Menkhorst|year=2001|title=A Field Guide to the Mammals of Australia|publisher=Oxford University Press|pages=54] The mating season lasts for two weeks either in August, for southern animals; in October, for animals from southern
Queensland ; or in June-July, for north Queensland animals. The diet is invertebrates, eggs, nectar and sometimes small vertebrates.Distribution and habitat
The Yellow-footed Antechinus is found from around the
Mount Lofty Ranges inSouth Australia to around Eungella inQueensland , with the exception of most of coastalNew South Wales and Victoria. Isolated populations occur in northeasternQueensland and in southwesternWestern Australia .The Yellow-footed Antechinus occupies a variety of habitats, including dry arid scrubland and
sclerophyll forest. In the north, it also inhabits coastal heaths, swamps and woodland; in the far north it is found in tropical vine forest.References
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