The cinnamon antechinus (''Antechinus leo''), also known as the Iron Ranges antechinus and the Cape York antechinus, is a species of small carnivorous

marsupial Marsupials are any members of the mammalian infraclass Marsupialia. All extant marsupials are endemic to Australasia, Wallacea and the Americas. A distinctive characteristic common to most of these species is that the young are carried in a ...

of the family

Dasyuridae The Dasyuridae are a family of marsupials native to Australia and New Guinea, including 71 extant species divided into 17 genera. Many are small and mouse-like or shrew-like, giving some of them the name marsupial mice or marsupial shrews, but ...

. It is the only mammal

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...

Cape York Peninsula Cape York Peninsula is a large peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest unspoiled wilderness in northern Australia.Mittermeier, R.E. et al. (2002). Wilderness: Earth’s last wild places. Mexico City: Agrupación ...

, being confined to semideciduous forest around the McIlraith and

Iron Range The term Iron Range refers collectively or individually to a number of elongated iron-ore mining districts around Lake Superior in the United States and Canada. Much of the ore-bearing region lies alongside the range of granite hills formed by ...

s. Along with the Atherton antechinus (''Antechinus godmani''), it is the rarest in its genus.

Taxonomy

The cinnamon antechinus was not scientifically described until 1980. It had previously been confused with both the

yellow-footed antechinus The yellow-footed antechinus (''Antechinus flavipes''), also known as the mardo, is a shrew-like marsupial found in Australia. One notable feature of the species is its sexual behavior. The male yellow-footed antechinus engages in such frenzie ...

(''A. flavipes rubeculus'') and the Atherton antechinus (''A. godmani''). A member of the

dasyurid The Dasyuridae are a family of marsupials native to Australia and New Guinea, including 71 extant species divided into 17 genera. Many are small and mouse-like or shrew-like, giving some of them the name marsupial mice or marsupial shrews, but t ...

family, the species name of the cinnamon antechinus, ''leo'', refers to the

lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphi ...

-like cinnamon colour of its fur.

Description

The cinnamon antechinus is one of the largest of the

antechinus ''Antechinus'' (// ('ant-echinus')) is a genus of small dasyurid marsupial endemic to Australia. They resemble mice with the bristly fur of shrews. Names They are also sometimes called 'broad-footed marsupial mice', 'pouched mice', or 'Ante ...

es, and is more rufous than its relatives. It is

nocturnal Nocturnality is an ethology, animal behavior characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnality, diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatures generally have ...

and

arboreal Arboreal locomotion is the locomotion of animals in trees. In habitats in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some animals may scale trees only occasionally, but others are exclusively arboreal. The habitats pose num ...

, and feeds on various

invertebrates Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...

. Like all antechinuses, the males die following the breeding season. The cinnamon antechinus, as its name implies, has mostly cinnamon-coloured fur, although it does have a darker mid-head stripe. Its mating season is in September.

Distribution and habitat

The cinnamon antechinus has a very restricted range, being completely confined to a small area on

, where it inhabits semideciduous rainforest. Despite being locally common, it was once classed as

near threatened A near-threatened species is a species which has been categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as that may be vulnerable to endangerment in the near future, but it does not currently qualify fo ...

by the IUCN due to the limits of its distribution.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q135437 Dasyuromorphs Mammals of Queensland Marsupials of Australia Mammals described in 1980