Sorex (Sorex) caecutiens Laxmann 1785

Wilson, Don E. & Reeder, DeeAnn, 2005, Order Soricomorpha, Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3 rd Edition), Volume 1, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 220-311 : 285

Sorex (Sorex) caecutiens Laxmann 1785

Sorex (Sorex) caecutiens Laxmann 1785 , Nova Acta Acad. Sci. Petropoli, 1785 (3): 285.

Type Locality: Russia, Buryatskaya ASSR, SW shore of Lake Baikal ( Pavlinov and Rossolimo, 1987:17).

Vernacular Names: Laxmann's Shrew.

Synonyms: Sorex (Sorex) altaicus Ognev 1922 ; Sorex (Sorex) annexus Thomas 1907 ; Sorex (Sorex) araneoides Ognev 1922 ; Sorex (Sorex) buxtoni J. Allen 1903 ; Sorex (Sorex) caecutienoides Stroganov 1967 ; Sorex (Sorex) centralis Thomas 1911 ; Sorex (Sorex) insularis Okhotina 1984 ; Sorex (Sorex) insularis Okhotina 1993 ; Sorex (Sorex) karpinskii Dehnel 1949 ; Sorex (Sorex) koreni G. Allen 1914 ; Sorex (Sorex) kurilensis Okhotina 1984 ; Sorex (Sorex) lapponicus Melander 1942 ; Sorex (Sorex) longicaudatus Okhotina 1984 ; Sorex (Sorex) longicaudatus Okhotina 1993 ; Sorex (Sorex) macropygmaeus Miller 1901 ; Sorex (Sorex) orii Kuroda 1933 ; Sorex (Sorex) pleskei Ognev 1922 ; Sorex (Sorex) rozanovi Ognev 1922 ; Sorex (Sorex) saevus Thomas 1907 ; Sorex (Sorex) tasicus Ognev 1933 ; Sorex (Sorex) tungussensis Naumoff 1933 .

Distribution: Taiga and tundra zones from E Europe to E Siberia, south to C Ukraine, N Kazakhstan, Altai Mtns, Mongolia, Gansu and NE China, Korea, Sakhalin, and Japan (Hokkaido).

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Subgenus Sorex , S. caecutiens group. Karyotype has 2n = 42, FN = 68-70. This species still offers many unsolved problems, along with the species of the tundrensis and arcticus groups. Names like cansulus , granarius , and shinto have been included in caecutiens in the past but are presently included in other species or treated as separate species; see Hoffmann (1987) for a discussion of problems. The European range was reviewed by Sulkava (1990). Okhotina (1993) revised the subspecies taxonomy in the Far East; two of the names that she had proposed were replaced by Hutterer and Zaitsev (2004). Ohdachi et al. (2001) studied the mtDNA variation of the species and found distinct clusters in Hokkaido (= saevus ) and Eurasian Far East.