Sorex minutus Linnaeus 1766
Creators: name: Mittermeier, Russell A.
name: Wilson, Don E.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Mammalia
Soricomorpha
Soricidae
Sorex
Sorex minutus

description: 28. Eurasian Pygmy Shrew <i>Sorex minutus</i> <b>French:</b> Musaraigne pygmée / <b>German:</b> Zwergspitzmaus / <b>Spanish:</b> Musarana enana de Eurasia <b>Other common names:</b> Pygmy Shrew <b>Taxonomy.</b> Sorex minutus Linnaeus, 1766, “Sibiria.” Restricted by I. Ya. Pavlinov and O. L. Rossolimo in 1987 to Krasnoyarsk, Siberia, Russia. Evidence from mtDNA and nDNA sequencesclassifies S. minutus in the minutus group. Six subspecies recognized. <b>Subspecies and Distribution.</b> S.m.minutusLinnaeus,1766—fromIrelandandtheBritishIsEthroughmostofEuropeandSiberiatoSWYakutia(=SakhaRepublic). S.m.beckiLehmann,1963—Alps. S.m.carpetanusRey,1971—IberianPeninsula. S.m.gymnurusChaworth-Musters,1932—SBalkanPeninsula. S.m.heptapotamicusStroganov,1956—ETianShan,KalbinskyAltai,andDzungarianAlatau. S. m. lucanius G. S. Miller, 1909 — Italian Peninsula. <b>Descriptive notes.</b> Head—body 40-64 mm,tail 33-45 mm, hindfoot 9-12 mm; weight 2-6-7 g. Tail of the Eurasian Pygmy Shrew is 70-75% of head-body length; tails of most subspecies are noticeably narrowed at bases and covered with long hairs that lie tight against skin and form distincttufts at tips. Pelage is bicolored. In juveniles, back is brownish gray, and belly is light gray. Dark back color often extends far onto sides; border between back and belly is not sharp. In adults, brown to dark brown pelage of back is more intense. Belly of adults is darker than in juveniles, sometimes with pale yellowish tint. Tail is sharply bicolored. Chromosomal complement has 2n = 42 and FN = 56, with seven pairs of metacentric and 13 pairs of acrocentric autosomes. Xchromosome is large acrocentric, and Y-chromosomeis small acrocentric. Populations with other chromosome numbers are found on Baltic islands: e.g. n = 40 on Oland and n = 36 on Gotland. <b>Habitat.</b> Forest-tundra, taiga, broad-leaved forests, forest-steppe, and steppe. The Eurasian Pygmy Shrew might also occur in grassy bogs, wet meadows, deciduous forests, dry pine stands, desolated waste grounds with sagebrush, and even sandy dunes. Coniferous forests with moss-covered floors and moss bogs are avoided. <b>Food and Feeding.</b> Food items of Eurasian Pygmy Shrews are collected on the ground and are very similar in geographically distant regions. For example, spiders and adult beetles are the most common components of gastric contents of Eurasian Pygmy Shrews in southern England, central Siberia, and all other regions; third most common components are woodlice in England and myriapods in Siberia. Similar data were obtained in Karelia, with the only difference that myriapods were a minor component of the diet. Proportion of acridoids in the diet is higher in open habitats. In Trans-Ili Alatau (Tian Shan), larval fungus gnats (Sciaroidea) and mushrooms are often found in gastric contents in periods of intense eruption of mushrooms; spruce seeds dramatically increase up to 36% of gastric contents in winter. Earthworms and dipteran larvae are absent in diets of Eurasian Pygmy Shrews. <b>Breeding.</b> Pregnancy of the Eurasian Pygmy Shrew lasts ¢.25 days. Number of embryos/female is 1-9 (average 5-6). Productivity is higher in northern regions of the distribution, but reliable data from these regions are scarce. <b>Activity patterns.</b> Eurasian Pygmy Shrews have two daily activity peaks in England: one during evening twilight and the other after sunrise. Morning peak is higher than the evening peak. An opposite pattern is observed for the Common Shrew (S. araneus) coexisting with the Eurasian Pygmy Shrew. In Poland, activity is the highest in daytime in spring and prior to and after sunset in winter. <b>Movements, Home range and Social organization.</b> The Eurasian Pygmy Shrew is solitary. There is almost no overlap between core areas of home ranges of different individuals. In Holland, home ranges were 900-1850 m? in winter and 530-800 m? in summer. Home ranges of small-sized Eurasian Pygmy Shrews are almost twice as large as those of larger Common Shrews. Life span of the Eurasian Pygmy Shrew does not exceed 15 months because individuals cannotlive through a second winter. <b>Status and Conservation.</b> Classified as Least Concern on The IUCN Red List. The Eurasian Pygmy Shrew is common in most of its distribution but is rarely dominant. Its dominance is sometimes observed after a depression of the multispecies shrew community, possibly because the Eurasian Pygmy Shrew reproduces faster than dominant species. As a result, long-term population dynamics of the Eurasian Pygmy Shrew are sometimes in antiphase to that of the Common Shrew when they are sympatric. Highest abundance of the Eurasian Pygmy Shrew occurs in the European part of its distribution, especially in Ireland and certain Baltic islands where it is the only species of Sorex. Abundance is decreasing in eastern parts of the distribution, and the Eurasian Pygmy Shrew is on the Local Red List in Yakutia. <b>Bibliography.</b> Bekenov et al. (1985), Buchalczyk (1972), Churchfield (1990), Churchfield &amp; Sheftel (1994), Crowcroft (1957), Fredga et al. (1995), Hutterer (1990), Ivanter &amp; Makarov (2001), Mascheretti et al. (2003), Michielsen (1966), Moskvitina (1973), Pavlinov &amp; Rossolimo (1987), Sheftel (1989), Yanushevich et al. (1972), Zima et al. (1998).
description: Published as part of <i>Russell A. Mittermeier &amp; Don E. Wilson, 2018, Soricidae, pp. 332-551 in Handbook of the Mammals of the World – Volume 8 Insectivores, Sloths and Colugos, Barcelona :Lynx Edicions</i> on page 404, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.6870843