Crocidura leucodon (Hermann, 1780)
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publication ID |
https://doi.org/ 10.5281/zenodo.6870843 |
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DOI |
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6870249 |
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persistent identifier |
https://treatment.plazi.org/id/3D474A54-A042-872E-FF20-AF3A1B8DFE41 |
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treatment provided by |
Felipe |
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scientific name |
Crocidura leucodon |
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Bicolored White-toothed Shrew
Crocidura leucodon View in CoL
French: Crocidure bicolore / German: Feldspitzmaus / Spanish: Musarana bicolor
Other common names: Bicolored Shrew
Taxonomy. Sorex leucodon Hermann, 1780 ,
vicinity of Strasbourg , Bas Rhin , France.
Widely used subspecific name lasius has been changed for gender agreement, as this epithet is the latinized Greek adjective “lasios.” Evidence retrieved from DNA sequences classify C. leucodon in the Old World Crocidura group. Subspecies persica is well differentiated and might be assigned a species rank after additional studies. Six subspecies recognized.
Subspecies and Distribution.
C.l.leucodonHermann,1780—WesternandCentralEurope,WUkraine,andSRussia.
C.l.judaicaThomas,1919—IsraelandadjacentcountriesinMiddleEast.
C.l.kuzjakiniSokolov&Tembotov,1989—ECiscaucasia.
C.l.lasiaThomas,1906—TurkeyandWTranscaucasia.
C.l.narentaeBolkay,1925—Italia,Austria,andBalkanPeninsula.
C. l. persica Thomas, 1907 — E Transcaucasia, N Iran, and SW Turkmenistan. View Figure
Descriptive notes. Head-body 59-72 mm,tail 31-41 mm, hindfoot 11-15 mm; weight 5:9-11-1 g. The Bicolored White-toothed Shrew is medium-sized and heavily built. Pelage is usually sharply bicolored. Dorsum varies from light gray to brownish gray in juveniles and grayish brown to dark brown in adults. Dark color of dorsum does not extend to sides, producing distinct mantle. Venter and major parts ofsides are white or light gray. Sides are grayish and red-tinted, and mantle is indistinct in juveniles of some subspecies. Tail is bicolored, the same as dorsum and venter. Chromosomal complement has 2n = 28 and FN = 56. X-chromosome is medium-sized submetacentric, and Ychromosome is small acrocentric. All 26 autosomes are metacentric or submetacentric.
Habitat. Various open biotopes including semi-deserts, steppes, meadows, forest clearings, floodplains (with meadows and bushes alternating), gardens, field edges, rock outcrops, and haystacks. The Bicolored White-toothed Shrew prefers virgin regions of mesoand xerophytic steppes with well-developed vegetation. Wet and forest habitats are avoided. In Iran and Turkey, it is also found in dry deciduous forests, being usually more abundant in localities where its more successful competitor Guldenstadt’s Whitetoothed Shrew ( C. gueldenstaedtii ) is absent.
Food and Feeding. Diet of the Bicolored White-toothed Shrew includes beetles, March fly larvae ( Bibionidae ), millipedes, mollusks, and harvestmen. It is presumably capable of hunting larger beetles compared with other similarly sized shrews.
Breeding. Nests of Bicolored White-toothed Shrews are constructed of dry grass and located on the ground in dense grass stands or bushes in the Caucasus. Breeding season lasts from early April to late September; numbers of embryos are 3-8/female (average six). Young-of-the-year often reproduce. Gestation lasts ¢.30 days. Two nests found in Westphalia (Germany) each had four young.
Activity patterns. Daily activity of the Bicolored White-toothed Shrew is multiphasic, peaking at twilight after sunset and before sunrise. Activity is low at night and still lower during the day.
Movements, Home range and Social organization. Bicolored White-toothed Shrews commonly move 0-8-1 km; maximum documented movement was 2:5 km. In Dagestan, home range diameters were 40-120 m; they averaged 46 m at a density lower than ten shrews per hectare and 35 m at higher density.
Status and Conservation. Classified as Least Concern on The IUCN Red List. The Bicolored White-toothed Shrew is rare throughout most ofits distribution. High abundance was observed on the Kerch Peninsula in Crimea and in south-eastern Dagestan. Even in these regions, however,it was the fifth most common in communities of small mammals, accounting for only 4-4% of captures. The Bicolored White-toothed Shrew is on the Red Lists of Ukraine and Moldova and regional Red List of Voronezh Region (Russia).
Bibliography. Bolshakov et al. (1996), Bukhnikashvili (2004), Dubey, Salamin et al. (2008), Ferguson & Menache (2002), Hutterer & Harrison (1988), Hutterer & Kock (2002), Karami et al. (2008), Kashtalian (2005), Krapp (1990), Krystufek & Vohralik (2001), Kuvikové (1987), Pucek & Raczynski (1983), Shchipanov & Oleinichenko (1993), Simak & Gileva (1993), Sokolov & Tembotov (1989), Zaitsev et al. (2014), Zima et al. (1998).
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