taxonID	type	description	language	source
60DA3A88BFB255D1AB721CD6484656B8.taxon	diagnosis	Diagnosis. Defined by a combination of characters. Large sized shrew, dorsal stripe present. Skull with narrow interorbital region relative to maxillary breadth. Upper unicuspids with Un 2 larger than Un 3, Un 5 broad, similar in size to Un 4.	en	Bannikova, Anna A., Jenkins, Paulina D., Lebedev, Vladimir S., Pavlova, Svetlana V., Yakushov, Vasily D., Raspopova, Alexandra A., Zhu, Yongke, Fang, Yun, Sun, Yue-Hua, Sheftel, Boris I. (2025): The morphological, chromosomal and molecular illumination of the dramatic diversity of the stripe-backed shrews, Sorex cylindricauda species complex (Eulipotyphla: Soricidae). Vertebrate Zoology 75: 227-243, DOI: 10.3897/vz.75.e153115
60DA3A88BFB255D1AB721CD6484656B8.taxon	etymology	Etymology. The name is derived from the Latin nivis – snow, with the suffix - cola – dweller. The name is treated as a noun in apposition even though the generic name is masculine.	en	Bannikova, Anna A., Jenkins, Paulina D., Lebedev, Vladimir S., Pavlova, Svetlana V., Yakushov, Vasily D., Raspopova, Alexandra A., Zhu, Yongke, Fang, Yun, Sun, Yue-Hua, Sheftel, Boris I. (2025): The morphological, chromosomal and molecular illumination of the dramatic diversity of the stripe-backed shrews, Sorex cylindricauda species complex (Eulipotyphla: Soricidae). Vertebrate Zoology 75: 227-243, DOI: 10.3897/vz.75.e153115
60DA3A88BFB255D1AB721CD6484656B8.taxon	description	Description. Skin (Fig. 8 A): Dorsal pelage brown with a conspicuous to inconspicuous darker dorsal stripe (4 – 6 mm wide); dorsal pelage colour grading in the lateral region into the lighter brown of the ventral pelage. Dorsal pelage dark grey at the base, the upper portion of the hairs pale brown, with some darker brown at the tips; ventral pelage dark grey at the base, pale drab brown at the tips. Tail brown dorsally, clearly demarked from the pale brown ventral colour. Tail with pencil of hairs at the tip (4 – 5 mm). Dorsal surface of feet light in colour. Two pairs of inguinal mammae are present on the adult female S- 207220. — Skull (Fig. 5 A): Skull large, upper toothrow relatively long, narrow interorbital region relative to maxillary breadth. — Dentition (Fig. 5 B): Un 5 clearly visible in toothrow in labial view although slightly obscured by anterobuccal cingulum of P 4; slightly less than 0.5 height of parastyle of P 4. In occlusal view, Un 5 similar in size to Un 4 with a broad posterolingual cingulum; breadth equivalent to or slightly less than distance between parastyle and base of protocone of P 4.	en	Bannikova, Anna A., Jenkins, Paulina D., Lebedev, Vladimir S., Pavlova, Svetlana V., Yakushov, Vasily D., Raspopova, Alexandra A., Zhu, Yongke, Fang, Yun, Sun, Yue-Hua, Sheftel, Boris I. (2025): The morphological, chromosomal and molecular illumination of the dramatic diversity of the stripe-backed shrews, Sorex cylindricauda species complex (Eulipotyphla: Soricidae). Vertebrate Zoology 75: 227-243, DOI: 10.3897/vz.75.e153115
60DA3A88BFB255D1AB721CD6484656B8.taxon	distribution	Distribution. Sorex nivicola sp. nov. is known from SW Gansu, NW Sichuan, E Qinghai. This species mostly lives in high mountain shrubland and grasslands at altitudes of 3400 – 4500 m (although it can also be found at elevations of just 2500 m). It primarily inhabits stony valleys of small streams covered with bushes. Sorex sinalis – remains unexplored genetically. This species is known only from the type series collected in the high-altitude belt> 3000 m asl in the Qinling mountains (72.4 km S. E. of Fengxiang, Shaanxi) (Thomas 1912). As of now, the only genetically analysed Sorex from the nearby mountains belong to S. wardi. Having examined the type material, Dolgov (1985) concluded that S. sinalis is conspecific with S. isodon, a species which belongs to different species group including also S. cansulus, S. unguiculatus and S. caecutiens (Bannikova et al. 2018). The same view was previously maintained by Corbet (1978). However, Hoffmann (1987) disagreed with Dolgov and rejected conspecificity of isodon and sinalis. We believe that the status and phylogenetic position can be established either by the analysis of the type specimens or de novo sampling in the high-altitude zone of Qinling.	en	Bannikova, Anna A., Jenkins, Paulina D., Lebedev, Vladimir S., Pavlova, Svetlana V., Yakushov, Vasily D., Raspopova, Alexandra A., Zhu, Yongke, Fang, Yun, Sun, Yue-Hua, Sheftel, Boris I. (2025): The morphological, chromosomal and molecular illumination of the dramatic diversity of the stripe-backed shrews, Sorex cylindricauda species complex (Eulipotyphla: Soricidae). Vertebrate Zoology 75: 227-243, DOI: 10.3897/vz.75.e153115
