Pygmy Planigale – Planigale maculata

Planigale maculataGould, 1851

Accepted name,

Transferred to Planigale from Antechinus by Archer (1976:346). According to Painter et al. (1995), it is the most distinctive species in the genus, and may be closer to Sminthopsis. The subspecies P. m. sinualis (Arnhem Land and Groote Eylandt) is widely divergent in mitochondrial cytochrome b sequences, as well as morphologically, and may be specifically distinct (Painter et al., 1995). A related but distinct species, referred to simply as Planigale 1 by Painter et al. (1995), is known from the Pilbara, Western Australia.