Planigale tealei Aplin, Cooper, Travouillon & Umbrello 2023, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Umbrello, Linette S.
name: Cooper, Norah K.
name: Adams, Mark
name: Travouillon, Kenny J.
name: Baker, Andrew M.
name: Westerman, Mike
name: Aplin, Ken P.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Mammalia
Dasyuromorphia
Dasyuridae
Planigale
Planigale tealei

description: Planigale tealei Aplin, Cooper, Travouillon & Umbrello sp. nov.
(Fig. 11, 15–17, Tables 2, 4)
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: ABF8285C-BD8F-4FEE-BE79-0CE5B7995486
Formerly referred to as ‘ Planigale sp. Mt Tom Price’ by the following authors: Blacket et al. (2000) and Westerman et al. (2016), and as ‘ Planigale sp. 2 ’ by Gibson & McKenzie (2009) and Umbrello et al. (2020).
Holotype. WAM M47923 adult male; Millstream, Western Australia, 21°17’14” S, 117°15’51” E. Collected by W. Manson, 2 nd July 1997. Spirit and skull. Specimen located in the Western Australian Museum Mammal collection, Welshpool, Western Australia.
Paratypes. WAM M47841, adult female; Tom Price, Western Australia 22°48’26” S, 117°45’00” E. Collected by S. Anstee and N. K. Cooper, 12 th November 1997. Spirit and skull. Liver tissue ABTC161752; pouch young from M47841 stored at ‒80 °C at WAM. WAM M47683, adult female; Tom Price, Western Australia 22°48’25” S, 117°47’03” E. Collected by S. Anstee, 15 th May 1997. Spirit and skull, note specimen selected due to intact skull, spirit specimen is in poor condition. WAM M55123, adult male; Roy Hill, Western Australia 22°25’12” S, 119°45’34” E. Collected by R. J. Teale et al., 5 th July 2004. Spirit specimen with liver and heart tissue stored at ‒80 °C at WAM.
Etymology. Named in honour of Roy Teale, who has supported the work of the Western Australian Museum over many decades and collected many of the specimens used in this study.
Material examined. Refer to Table 1 for a list of all P. tealei specimens examined in this study, labelled as Planigale sp. Mt Tom Price in Table 1.
Diagnosis. Planigale tealei is considerably smaller in all external and cranial dimensions than each of P. kendricki, P. maculata, P. novaeguineae and P. gilesi. It further differs from each of these taxa in having a more depressed cranium and differs from P. gilesi in retaining upper and lower third premolars. It is slightly smaller than P. tenuirostris and further differs from this species in having a considerably more depressed cranium with a shorter rostrum. It is most similar in size and craniodental morphology to P. ingrami, but it differs from this taxon in having a longer snout and proportionally larger pes, and in lacking a distinct eye ring. The cranium differs from that of all named forms of P. ingrami in having a broadly rounded rather than square posterior nasal suture, a broader interorbital region, more rounded and elongate alisphenoid tympanic process that makes broad contact with the rostral tympanic process of the petrosal, a less flattened occiput and proportionally larger premolars.
description: Published as part of Umbrello, Linette S., Cooper, Norah K., Adams, Mark, Travouillon, Kenny J., Baker, Andrew M., Westerman, Mike & Aplin, Ken P., 2023, Hiding in plain sight: two new species of diminutive marsupial (Dasyuridae: Planigale) from the Pilbara, Australia, pp. 1-46 in Zootaxa 5330 (1) on page 32, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5330.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/8248883