Elephantulus fuscus
Creators: name: Russell A. Mittermeier
name: Don E. Wilson
Publisher: name: Lynx Edicions
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Mammalia
Macroscelidea
Macroscelididae
Elephantulus
Elephantulus fuscus

description: 15.
Dusky Sengi
Elephantulus fuscus
French: Sengi foncé / German: Dunkle Elefantenspitzmaus / Spanish: Sengi oscuro
Other common names: Dusky Elephant-shrew, Peters’s Short-snouted Elephant-shrew, Peters’s Short-snouted Seng, Zambezi Elephant-shrew, Zambezi Sengi
Taxonomy. Macroscelides fuscus Peters, 1852,
Boror, near Quelimane, Mozambique.
This species is monotypic.
Distribution. S Malawi and C Mozambique; perhaps SE Zambia.
Descriptive notes. Head-body 105-125 mm, tail 86-116 mm, ear 19-20 mm, hindfoot 28-30 mm; weight c.45 g. Tail of the Dusky Sengi is ¢.90% of head-body length, has black hairs along mid-dorsal line, and is paler on ventral side. Tail tuft is absent. Pinnae are relatively large, upright, and rounded at tips. Supratragus is swollen and twisted backward on a constricted stalk. Snout is long, thin, and flexible. Dorsum is dark brown to dark gray-brown, and venter is dark gray. White eye-ring is present, without intruding post-ocular patch. Skin of plantar pes is dark and hairless. Females have two anterior, two intermediate, and two posterior nipples; males have no nipples. Five digits are present on each manus and pes. Pectoral gland is absent, and subcaudal gland is present. Dental formula is I 3/3,C1/1,P4/4,M 2/3 (x2) = 42. Third lower molaris present in only three extant species: the Short-snouted Sengi (E. brachyrhynchus), the Dusky Sengi, and the Duskyfooted Sengi (E. fuscipes)—the basis for their previous assignment to the now defunct genus Nasilio. Canine sizes are subequal to adjacent teeth. Several bilateral pairs of palatal foramina are present. Postorbital processes are absent. In lateral view, margin of infraorbital foramen is oblique, and in anterior view, this opening appears somewhat triangular. Karyotype is unknown.
Habitat. Grasslands with compact sandy substrates and scattered trees and bushes.
Food and Feeding. There is no specific information available for this species, but diets of the Dusky Sengi are probably similar to other species of Elephantulus.
Breeding. No information.
Activity patterns. No information.
Movements, Home range and Social organization. No information.
Status and Conservation. Classified as Data Deficient on The IUCN Red List. Population trend of the Dusky Sengi is unknown. A specimen sighting was most recently published in 2005, but all collected voucher specimens predate 1968. About twenty localities of occurrence were recorded in southern Malawi and central Mozambique in ¢.115,000 km?. If these data were current and distribution was not severely fragmented, size of this area could justify a classification of Least Concern on The IUCN Red List. However, distribution overlaps some areas that are densely populated by humans, so extent of suitable habitat could be much smaller than generalized polygons suggest from old records.
Bibliography. Corbet (1974), Corbet & Hanks (1968), Evans (1942), Perrin (2013c), Rathbun (2009, 20159), Smithers & Lobéao Tello (1976).
description: Published as part of Russell A. Mittermeier & Don E. Wilson, 2018, Macroscelididae, pp. 206-234 in Handbook of the Mammals of the World – Volume 8 Insectivores, Sloths and Colugos, Barcelona :Lynx Edicions on page 232, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.6646565