Crocidura olivieri
Creators: name: Wilson, Don E.
name: Reeder, DeeAnn
Publisher: name: The Johns Hopkins University Press
Year: 2005
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Mammalia
Soricomorpha
Soricidae
Crocidura
Crocidura olivieri

description: Crocidura olivieri (Lesson 1827)
[Crocidura] olivieri (Lesson 1827), Manuel de Mammalogie: 121.
Type Locality: Egypt, Sakkara; the neotype designated by Corbet (1978 c:30) was collected "near Giza ".
Vernacular Names: African Giant Shrew.
Subspecies::
Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. olivieri Lesson 1827
Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. anchietae Bocage 1889
Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. bueae Heim de Balsac and Barloy 1966
Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. cara Dollmann 1915
Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. cinereoaenea Rüppell 1842
Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. darfurea Thomas and Hinton 1923
Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. giffardi de Winton 1898
Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. guineensis Cabrera 1903
Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. hansruppi Hutterer 1981
Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. hedenborgiana Sundevall 1843
Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. kivu Osgood 1910
Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. manni Peters 1878
Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. martiensseni Neumann 1900
Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. nyansae Neumann 1900
Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. occidentalis Pucheran 1855
Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. odorata Leconte 1857
Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. spurelli Thomas 1910
Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. sururae Heller 1910
Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. toritensis Setzer 1956
Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. zuleika Dollman 1915
Distribution: Egypt; Mauretania to Ethiopia, and southwards to N South Africa.
Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).
Discussion: Crocidura olivieri is the valid and widely used name for large African shrews previously known as flavescens (which is now the valid name for a species restricted to South Africa; see Maddalena et al., 1987). Chitaukali et al. (2001) recently proposed to use occidentalis instead of olivieri, which they regard as a nomen dubium, despite the neotype designation by Corbet (1978). The description of C. olivieri was based on a large mummified shrew from Ancient Egypt. The same species occurs in Egypt today (Hutterer, 1994), and there is no reason to believe that the name olivieri does not refer to the extant species.
This group of giant shrews was reviewed by Heim de Balsac and Barloy (1966). Well known subspecies names are anchietae, doriana, ferruginea, fuscosa, giffardi, guineeensis, hansruppi, hedenborgiana, kivu, manni, martiensseni, nyansae, occidentalis, odorata, spurelli, and sururae. Some of these were considered allospecies of a flavescens superspecies by Hutterer and Happold (1983). Many authors also distinguished pale (occidentalis, manni, spurelli) and black (giffardi, hedenborgiana, martiensseni, odorata) color morphs as different species but biochemical evidence showed that they are merely color morphs of a single and highly variable species (Maddalena, 1990). Crocidura olivieri may also include zaphiri; see Yalden et al. (1976).
description: Published as part of Wilson, Don E. & Reeder, DeeAnn, 2005, Order Soricomorpha, pp. 220-311 in Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3 rd Edition), Volume 1, Baltimore :The Johns Hopkins University Press on page 244, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7316519