Fig. 4.6.

The time of breeding each year in antechinuses is so synchronised and predictable for a species at any given location that it can provide clues you are dealing with different species. Several species in the genus have been discovered by researchers walking along trap lines and noticing that some captured females were in breeding condition while others were not. Within a species, all females at a location should enter breeding together. After study with DNA and comparison of subtle fur colouration differences, it was discovered they were actually two separate species! Here is the newest species in the antechinus genus, the Tasman Peninsula Dusky Antechinus (A. vandycki) from remote south-eastern Tasmania – it was named only in 2015 and we know almost nothing about the animal other than that it urgently needs our protection to avoid extinction. Source: Gary Cranitch.