The subtropical antechinus (''Antechinus subtropicus'') is a species of small carnivorous

marsupial Marsupials are a diverse group of mammals belonging to the infraclass Marsupialia. They are natively found in Australasia, Wallacea, and the Americas. One of marsupials' unique features is their reproductive strategy: the young are born in a r ...

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 th ...

Taxonomy

It was previously thought to be

conspecific Biological specificity is the tendency of a characteristic such as a behavior or a biochemical variation to occur in a particular species. Biochemist Linus Pauling stated that "Biological specificity is the set of characteristics of living organism ...

with the

brown antechinus The brown antechinus (''Antechinus stuartii''), also known as Stuart's antechinus and Macleay's marsupial mouse, is a species of small carnivorous marsupial of the family Dasyuridae. The males die after their first breeding season, and the specie ...

(''Antechinus stuartii'').

Description

It is difficult to distinguish it from its close relatives, but its significant features include a long and narrow muzzle and a generally mid-brown colour. It is the largest of the

complex. It mainly eats insects and after mating, all of the males die of stress-related diseases, like many other species in this family.

Distribution and habitat

The subtropical antechinus is found south from

Gympie Gympie ( ) is a city and a Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Gympie Region, Queensland, Australia. Located in the Greater Sunshine Coast, Gympie is about north of the state capital, Brisbane. The city lies on the Mary River ( ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, to the far northeast of

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, where it is essentially restricted to subtropical vine forest below 1000 m elevation. A relict population is also found in

Dorrigo National Park Dorrigo National Park is a national park in New South Wales, Australia, north of Sydney on Dome Road off the Waterfall Way, east of the town of Dorrigo. History Dorrigo National Park lies within Gumbaynggirr country and has great significanc ...

References

Dasyuromorphs Mammals of New South Wales Mammals of Queensland Marsupials of Australia Mammals described in 2000 {{marsupial-stub