Vicariant speciation resulting from biogeographic barriers in the Australian tropics: The case of the red-cheeked dunnart ().

Global biodiversity loss continues unabated, and in Australia, the rate of recent mammal extinctions is among the worst in the world. Meanwhile, the diversity among and within many endemic mammal species remains undescribed. This information is crucial to delineate species boundaries and thus inform decision-making for conservation. (the red-cheeked dunnart) is a small, dasyurid marsupial found in four disjunct populations around the northern coast of Australia and New Guinea. There are three currently recognized subspecies, each occupying a distinct geographic location. occurs in Queensland, is distributed across New Guinea and the Aru Islands, and has populations in the Top End of the Northern Territory and the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Previous molecular work has suggested the current subspecies definitions are not aligned with DNA sequence data, though the sampling was limited. We undertook a comprehensive genetic and morphological review of to clarify relationships within the species. This included mitochondrial (CR, 12S, and cytb) and nuclear (omega-globin, IRBP, and bfib7) loci, and morphometric analysis of skulls and whole wet-preserved specimens held in museums. Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian phylogenetic analyses resolved samples into two distinct clades, demarcated by the Gulf of Carpentaria in Australia's north. was consistently separated from and , based on the overall body and skull size and craniodental features, while and were more difficult to distinguish from each other. Thus, we redescribed , recognizing two species, (raised from subspecies) and (now comprising the subspecies and ). This study highlights the importance of recognizing cryptic mammal fauna to help address the gap in our knowledge about diagnosing diversity during a time of conservation crisis.