Crocidura cyanea
Creators: name: Mittermeier, Russell A.
name: Wilson, Don E.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Mammalia
Soricomorpha
Soricidae
Crocidura
Crocidura cyanea

description: 366. Reddish-gray White-toothed Shrew <i>Crocidura cyanea</i> <b>French:</b> Crocidure ardoisée / <b>German:</b> Rotgraue WeiRRzahnspitzmaus / <b>Spanish:</b> Musarafa gris rojiza <b>Other common names:</b> Reddish-gray Shrew <b>Taxonomy.</b> Sorex cyaneus Duvernoy, 1838, “ La riviere des Elephants, au sud de I’Afrique [= the Elephant River in Southern Africa].” Restricted by G. C. Shortridge in 1942 to “Citrusdal, South Africa.” Crocidura cyanea seems to be basal to a large clade including C. silacea, C. bates, C. foxi, C. buettikoferi, C. theresae, C. grandiceps, and C. wimmer: with C. mariquensis and C. hildegardeae being more basal to the clade than C. cyanea. This large clade issis- ter to a clade including C. crenata, C. fuscomurina, C. crossei, C. jouvenetae, and C. lusitania. Crocidura cyanea might represent a species complex, although additional genetic and morphometric research is needed to determine its taxonomic limits. Monotypic. <b>Distribution.</b> Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, E Botswana, South Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho, Namibia, and extreme SW Angola. <b>Descriptive notes.</b> Head—body 67-93 mm (males) and 68-89 mm (females), tail 42— 69 mm (males) and 33-55 mm (females), ear 811 mm (males) and 7-5-11 mm (females), hindfoot 11-14-5 mm (males) and 12-14 mm (females). No specific data are available for body weight. The Reddish-gray White-toothed Shrew is medium-sized to large; males seem to be larger than females. Dorsal pelage is brownish gray, grizzled with pale yellow; individual hairs are slate-gray basally and brown-tipped, with pale gray or yellowish subterminal band. Venter is paler gray, with yellow or burnt tinge in older individuals; hairs are slate-gray-based with silvery gray tips. Western individuals are generally paler than eastern individuals. Feet are yellow to pale brown. Tail is c.69% of head-body length,relatively hairy and covered with longerbristle hairs, and bicolored, being pale to dark brown above and paler below. Females have six inguinal nipples. There are three unicuspids. <b>Habitat.</b> Various habitats such as montane forests and grasslands, vleis (grassy or marshy wetland), dense shrubs, savannas, grasslands, and rocky outcrops. In central Namibia, there is a uniquely adapted population of cave-dwelling Reddish-gray Whitetoothed Shrews that goes ¢.150 m into the cave and thrives on invertebrates. <b>Food and Feeding.</b> Diets of the Reddish-gray White-toothed Shrew include a variety of invertebrates. In cave-dwelling individuals in Namibia, it seems to survive on ptinid beetles, apterous crickets, and pseudoscorpions and might even eat carcasses of bats roosting in the cave. <b>Breeding.</b> Breeding of Reddish-gray White-toothed Shrews occurs during the wet season (September—April), although a pregnant female was found in the dry season (July) in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. Reddish-gray White-toothed Shrews probably can breed year-round and opportunistically. Litters have 2-6 young (mean 3-3). <b>Activity patterns.</b> Reddish-gray White-toothed Shrews are primarily nocturnal. <b>Movements, Home range and Social organization.</b> Reddish-gray White-toothed Shrews are solitary. <b>Status and Conservation.</b> Classified as Least Concern on The IUCN Red List. The Reddish-gray White-toothed Shrew is common throughout much ofits distribution and seems to have no major threats. <b>Bibliography.</b> Baxter &amp; Dippenaar (2013a), Baxter et al. (2016), Heim de Balsac &amp; Meester (1977), Lynch (1994), Marais &amp; Irish (1990), Meester (1963), Rathbun (2005), Rautenbach (1982), Shortridge (1942), Smithers &amp; Wilson (1979b), Taylor (1998), Vogel et al. (2013).
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 524, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.6870843