Crocidura albicauda Peters, 1866

Peters, W.C.H. (1866) Vorlãufige Ü bersicht der aus dem Nachlasse des Baron Carl von der Decken stammenden und auf seiner ostafricanischen Reise gesammelten Sãugethiere und Amphibien. Monatsberichte der Königlich Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin: 885 [884–892].

Valid name: Suncus murinus (Linnaeus, 1766)

Syntypes: ZMB 83302, female, juv., body in alcohol; ZMB 3463, male, adult, in alcohol, skull extracted. Collected by von der Decken from Angasija [Ngasidja, Grande Comore] ca. 1862.

Comments: Hutterer & Tranier (1990) discussed the status of C. albicauda . ZMB 3463 has the dental formula of Crocidura, but resembles Suncus in other skull characteristics, body size, and in having a thick, hairy white tail. Hence, Hutterer & Tranier regarded the specimen to be a Suncus murinus, missing one pair of unicuspid teeth. Specimens collected later by Voeltzkow on the same island are definitely Suncus murinus . Symmetrical absence of last upper unicuspid is not unusual in Suncus murinus and was also found in several Japanese populations, in one case in 100% of all animals from Nagasaki (Koyasu et al. 2005).