Crocidura horsfieldii, Tomes, 1856
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publication ID |
https://doi.org/ 10.5281/zenodo.6870843 |
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DOI |
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6870132 |
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persistent identifier |
https://treatment.plazi.org/id/3D474A54-A07F-8713-FA29-AFB51475F494 |
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treatment provided by |
Felipe |
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scientific name |
Crocidura horsfieldii |
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Horsfield’s White-toothed Shrew
Crocidura horsfieldii View in CoL
French: Crocidure de Horsfield / German: Horsfield-WeiRzahnspitzmaus / Spanish: Musarana de Horsfield
Other common names: Horsfield's Shrew
Taxonomy. Crocidura horsfieldii Tomes, 1856 View in CoL , Sri Lanka.
Previously treated as a widely distributed species including many forms from East and South-east Asia as races, including but not limited to indochinensis , wataser, kuro- dai, tadae, and wuchihensis . Now reckoned to be a relict species, forming a distinct lineage in the genus which is not closely related to other Crocidura species , including C. hikmiya and C. miya from Sri Lanka,
nor any other species from Asia or Europe. Thus, all its former subspecies from East and South-east Asia have been elevated to full species. The form myoides of Kashmir is currently recognized as a synonym of C. horsfieldii , which is suspicious. Sequence of an unidentified specimen from Araku valley of Andhra Pradesh clearly supports its distribution near the east coast of India, indicating it has a broader distribution in Indian Peninsula than currently known. Monotypic.
Distribution. Known from a few disjunct localities in NW, EC & S India (Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir, Araku Valley in Andhra Pradesh, and Mysore in Karnataka), and C & SW Sri Lanka. It is unlikely distributed in Nepal. View Figure
Descriptive notes. Head-body 58-68 mm, tail 44-49 mm, ear 6—7 mm, hindfoot 10-11 mm. No specific data are available for body weight. Condylo-incisive length 16-2-17-2 mm, tooth row 6-8-7-4 mm, breadth of braincase 7-4-7-8 mm. Horsfield’s White-toothed Shrew is a small shrew, the smallest Crocidura species in Sri Lanka. Dorsal pelage is dusky brown and ventrum is dusky gray. One animal from Mysore had a chromosomal complement of 2n = 38 and FN = 48.
Habitat. Recorded from moist lowlands, montane areas, and patana grasslands in Sri Lanka, as well as moist tropical forests in India.
Food and Feeding. Horsfield’s White-toothed Shrew is insectivorous.
Breeding. No information.
Activity patterns. Terrestrial and nocturnal.
Movements, Home range and Social organization. No information.
Status and Conservation. Classified as Data Deficient on The IUCN Red List. Horsfield’s White-toothed Shrew is a common species in its favored habitat in Sri Lanka. Little is known aboutthis species in peninsular India. Its distribution and population size warrants further investigation.
Bibliography. Jenkins (1976), Lunde et al. (2003), Pearch (2011), Srinivasulu & Srinivasulu (2012), Yapa & Ratnavira (2013).
No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.
