Crocidura microelongata Esselstyn &amp; Achmadi &amp; Handika &amp; Swanson &amp; Giarla &amp; Rowe 2021, new species
Creators: name: Esselstyn, Jacob A.
name: Achmadi, Anang S.
name: Handika, Heru
name: Swanson, Mark T.
name: Giarla, Thomas C.
name: Rowe, Kevin C.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Mammalia
Soricomorpha
Soricidae
Crocidura
Crocidura microelongata

description: <i>Crocidura microelongata</i>, new species LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank. org:act: 015EFE9D-8AAC-433D-B563- DD8855C43B00 <i>Crocidura elongata</i> Ruedi, 1995: 251. Misidentification. HOLOTYPE: MZB 43000 (= FMNH 213426), an adult male, collected on 1 March 2011 by J.A. Esselstyn. The specimen comprises a study skin, cleaned skull and skeleton, and frozen tissue samples. External measurements from the holotype are 206 mm × 111 mm × 20 mm × 10 mm = 12.5 g. The voucher specimen and a tissue sample will be permanently curated at MZB, with another tissue sample retained at FMNH. TYPE LOCALITY: Indonesia, Sulawesi Selatan, Enrekang, Buntu Bato, Latimojong Village, Karangan, Mt. Latimojong, Bantanase; 3.40755° S, 120.0078° E, 2050 m. TABLE 5 a The sample mean ± one standard deviation, the observed range in parentheses, and the sample size. ETYMOLOGY: We combine “micro” with “elongata” because this species looks like a small version of <i>C. elongata</i>. GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION: This species is broadly distributed across western portions of the west-central area of endemism of Sulawesi. We identified populations from Mt. Latimojong, South Sulawesi Province; Mt. Gandang Dewata, West Sulawesi Province; and Mts. Torompupu and Rorekatimbo, Central Sulawesi Province (fig. 16). Recorded from approximately 700 m on Mt. Latimojong to 2600 m on Mt. Gandang Dewata. Most specimens are from areas&gt; 1500 m (fig. 13; table 3). DIAGNOSIS: <i>Crocidura microelongata</i> is a somewhat large <i>Crocidura</i> with a long tail and long, slen- der hind feet and skull (tables 2, 5). The dorsal pelage is gray-brown overall, with individual hairs having a gray-brown base and brown tip (fig. 14D). The ventral pelage is more silver, comprising individual hairs with a dark gray base and silver tip. The mystacial vibrissae are dark proximally for a third of their length but white distally. The hind feet are long in absolute terms and relative to head-andbody length (figs. 9, 17). Dorsally, the feet are brown, abruptly transitioning to pinkish white near the base of the phalanges (in some specimens, it is a gradual transition). Ventrally, the hind feet are nearly white, but brown pigment is present around the lateral, posterior margin of the hind foot and around the base of the thenar and hypothenar pads (fig. 14D). In some specimens, the 1st and 4th interdigital pads are also pigmented around the base. The palmar surface is entirely pinkish white. The claws are translucent. The tail is subtly bicolored, with a brown dorsum and pale brown venter. Tiny applied hairs are present along the entire length of the tail, but they are barely visible to the naked eye along most of the length of the tail (fig. 14D). These hairs are slightly longer and white near the tip of the tail, creating a very small distal white tuft. In a minority of specimens, the integument is also white for the distal ≤ 20 mm of the tail. The tail bristles that are common at the base of the tail of many <i>Crocidura</i> are nearly absent in this species (fig. 14D). The skull is somewhat long and slender, with a tapering interorbital region, and moderately robust dentition (fig. 18B). The braincase is dorsoventrally inflated and bulges outward in the parietal region as compared with the more posterior interparietal. Relative to skull length the rostrum is quite short (fig. 10). The braincase is somewhat narrow relative to skull length, but the interorbital region is wide (fig. 10). COMPARISONS: This species is readily distinguished by its ratio of tail length to head-and-body length (fig. 9; table 2) from all <i>Crocidura</i> species on Sulawesi except other members of the Long-Tailed Group. Within the Long-Tailed Group, <i>C. caudipilosa</i> is smaller and has a much hairier tail, shorter hind foot, paler pelage, and lower relative interorbital width (IOW /CIL) but greater relative braincase breadth (BB /CIL) (figs. 9, 10). Within the Elongata Subgroup, <i>C. microelongata</i> has a smaller body size, shorter tail, shorter and slightly darker hind feet, and shorter skull than <i>C. elongata</i> and <i>C. quasielongata</i> (fig. 12; table 5). The thenar pad on the hind foot is shorter than in <i>C. elongata</i>, but comparable to that of <i>C. quasielongta</i> (fig. 14). Although the skull is shorter, its breadth is similar to that of the other two species, whether measured at the braincase, interorbital area, or rostral region (figs. 10, 12). The interorbital region, however, is more tapered than in either of the two most similar species (fig. 18). The dentition of <i>C. microelongata</i> is slightly smaller in proportion to the skull than in either <i>C. elongata</i> or <i>C. quasielongata</i> (fig. 18). COMMENTS: Although we have not examined the specimens Ruedi (1995) identified as <i>Crocidura elongata</i> from Mt. Rorekatimbo (IZEA 4365 and 4396), a published cytochrome <i>b</i> sequence from IZEA 4396 is indistinguishable from mitochondrial sequences we obtained from Mt. Rorekatimbo samples of <i>C. microelongata</i>. Our mitochondrial gene trees placed <i>C. microelongata</i> as either sister to the other 19 species that make up Sulawesi’s endemic radiation (all species except <i>C. nigripes</i>) or to all members of the endemic radiation except <i>C. musseri</i>. However, statistical support for these hypotheses was nonexistent (fig. 4) or modest (fig. 5). Our analyses of nuclear DNA placed <i>C. microelongata</i> as part of the basal comb with no clear sister relationship (figs. 7, 8; supplementary data S 6). See the next account for results of nuclear DNA species delimitation analyses. SPECIMENS EXAMINED: Mt. Gandang Dewata (MZB 34736–34741, 34743–34745, 34748, 34749, 34751, 34753, 34755–34757, 38463, 38472, 38473; FMNH 218544–218547, 218584, 218593– 218603, 218969, 218972; NMV Z21764), Mt. Latimojong (MZB 40935, 40937, 40938, 43000; FMNH 212990–213005; MVZ 237567, 237569– 237572, 237594, 238121; NMV C38534), Mt. Rorekatimbo (FMNH 213146–213162, 213164– 213173, 213435, 213436), Mt. Torompupu (MZB 43013, 43014; NMV C40139).
description: Published as part of <i>Esselstyn, Jacob A., Achmadi, Anang S., Handika, Heru, Swanson, Mark T., Giarla, Thomas C. &amp; Rowe, Kevin C., 2021, Fourteen New, Endemic Species Of Shrew (Genus Crocidura) From Sulawesi Reveal A Spectacular Island Radiation, pp. 1-109 in Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2021 (454)</i> on pages 33-35, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0090.454.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/5788835
description: {"references": ["Ruedi, M. 1995. Taxonomic revision of shrews of the genus Crocidura from the Sunda Shelf and Sulawesi with description of two new species (Mammalia: Soricidae). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 115: 211 - 265."]}