The Yellow-footed Antechinus (Antechinus flavipes), also known as the Mardo, is a shrew

Shrew

A shrew or shrew mouse is a small molelike mammal classified in the order Soricomorpha. True shrews are also not to be confused with West Indies shrews, treeshrews, otter shrews, or elephant shrews, which belong to different families or orders.Although its external appearance is generally that of...

-like marsupial

Marsupial

Marsupials are an infraclass of mammals, characterized by giving birth to relatively undeveloped young. Close to 70% of the 334 extant species occur in Australia, New Guinea, and nearby islands, with the remaining 100 found in the Americas, primarily in South America, but with thirteen in Central...

 found in Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. One notable feature of the species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 is its sexual

Sexual intercourse

Sexual intercourse, also known as copulation or coitus, commonly refers to the act in which a male's penis enters a female's vagina for the purposes of sexual pleasure or reproduction. The entities may be of opposite sexes, or they may be hermaphroditic, as is the case with snails...

 behavior. The male Yellow-footed Antechinus engages in such frenzied mating

Mating

In biology, mating is the pairing of opposite-sex or hermaphroditic organisms for copulation. In social animals, it also includes the raising of their offspring. Copulation is the union of the sex organs of two sexually reproducing animals for insemination and subsequent internal fertilization...

 that its immune system becomes compromised, resulting in stress

Stress (medicine)

Stress is a term in psychology and biology, borrowed from physics and engineering and first used in the biological context in the 1930s, which has in more recent decades become commonly used in popular parlance...

 related death before it is one year old.

Taxonomy

The Yellow-footed Antechinus was described in 1838 by George Robert Waterhouse

George Robert Waterhouse

George Robert Waterhouse was an English naturalist.In 1833, Waterhouse was elected as the Royal Entomological Society of London's librarian and curator of insects and records....

, who noted its most distinctive feature in its species name flavipes, which means "yellow-footed". The species has occasionally been combined with the Brown Antechinus

Brown Antechinus

The Brown Antechinus , also known as Stuart's Antechinus and Macleay's Marsupial Mouse, is a species of small carnivorous marsupial of the family Dasyuridae.-Taxonomy:...

 (A. stuartii).

A member of the family Dasyuridae

Dasyuridae

Dasyuridae is a family of marsupials native to Australia and New Guinea, including 61 species divided into 15 genera. Many are small and mouse-like, giving them the misnomer marsupial mice, but the group also includes the cat-sized quolls, as well as the Tasmanian Devil...

, the Yellow-footed Antechinus is the most widespread of all the members of its genus, Antechinus

Antechinus

Antechinus is a genus of dasyurid marsupial that is indigenous to Australia and New Guinea. The majority of Antechinus species occur in Australia and only two species have been described in New Guinea...

.

Three subspecies of the Yellow-footed Antechinus are recognised:

• A. f. flavipes, found in southeastern Queensland
  Queensland
  Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
  
  , New South Wales
  New South Wales
  New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
  
  , Victoria
  Victoria (Australia)
  Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
  
   and South Australia
  South Australia
  South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
  
  
• A. f. leucogaster, found in southwestern Western Australia
  Western Australia
  Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...
  
  
• A. f. rubeculus, found in northeastern Queensland
  Queensland
  Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
  
  

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. It has a pointed muzzle and short, broad feet of buff to yellow-brown color, hence the name. It has short hair and a moderately long tail. In size and body shape this species is fairly typical of its genus

Antechinus

Antechinus is a genus of dasyurid marsupial that is indigenous to Australia and New Guinea. The majority of Antechinus species occur in Australia and only two species have been described in New Guinea...

. Head and body length about 10-13 cm (4-5.2 in); weight about 30 g (1 oz).

The Yellow-footed Antechinus differs from its relatives in its comparatively diurnal

Diurnal animal

Diurnality is a plant or animal behavior characterized by activity during the day and sleeping at night.-In animals:Animals that are not diurnal might be nocturnal or crepuscular . Many animal species are diurnal, including many mammals, insects, reptiles and birds...

 habits. The mating season lasts for two weeks either in August, for southern animals; in October, for animals from southern Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

; 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 discontinuously from around the Mount Lofty Ranges

Mount Lofty Ranges

The Mount Lofty Ranges are the range of mountains just to the east of Adelaide in South Australia.-Location and description:The Mount Lofty Ranges stretch from the southernmost point of the Fleurieu Peninsula at Cape Jervis northwards for over before petering out north of Peterborough...

 in South Australia

South Australia

South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...

 to around Eungella in Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

, with the exception of most of coastal New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

 and Victoria

Victoria (Australia)

Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....

. Isolated populations occur in northeastern Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

 and in southwestern Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

. Some populations are listed as "locally common", others as uncertain.

The Yellow-footed Antechinus occupies a variety of habitats, including dry arid scrubland and sclerophyll

Sclerophyll

Sclerophyll is the term for a type of vegetation that has hard leaves and short internodes . The word comes from the Greek sclero and phyllon ....

forest. In the north, it also inhabits coastal heaths, swamps and woodland; in the far north it is found in tropical vine forest.