Yellow-footed Antechinus

About 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 frenzied mating that its immune system becomes compromised, resulting in stress-related death before it is one year old.

The yellow-footed antechinus was described in 1838 by George Robert Waterhouse, referring to a specimen that was collected north of the Hunter River in New South Wales. The author tentatively placed the new species with the genus Phascogale, based on similar dentition by reference to a description but without a skull for a closer comparison. The specific epithet flavipes means "yellow-footed." The species has occasionally been combined with the Antechinus stuartii (brown antechinus).

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: Antechinus flavipes flavipes Waterhouse 1838, found in southeastern Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia

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