Crocidura desperata Hutterer, Jenkins &amp; W. N. Verheyen 1991
Creators: name: Mittermeier, Russell A.
name: Wilson, Don E.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Mammalia
Soricomorpha
Soricidae
Crocidura
Crocidura desperata

description: 343. Desperate White-toothed Shrew <i>Crocidura desperata</i> <b>French:</b> Crocidure furieuse / <b>German:</b> Verzweifelte Weil3zahnspitzmaus / <b>Spanish:</b> Musarana desesperada <b>Other common names:</b> Desperate Shrew <b>Taxonomy.</b> Crocidura desperata Hutterer, Jenkins &amp; W. N. Verheyen, 1991, mountain bamboo zone above 2000 m, Rungwe Mountains, southern Tanzania. Relationships unresolved. Monotypic. <b>Distribution.</b> Endemic to relict forest patches at elevations over 1500 m in the Rungwe and Udzungwa Mts in S Tanzania. Not known from any of the other Eastern Arc Mts in Tanzania. <b>Descriptive notes.</b> Head-body 80-101 mm, tail 67 mm, ear 7-8-5 mm, hindfoot 18-7-19 mm; weight 16-27 g. The Desperate White-toothed Shrew is a highly specialized shrew that shows some characteristics of Myosorex spp. It is a large, long-furred shrew, closely resembling the Kivu Long-haired White-toothed Shrew (C. lanosa) of Mount Kahuzi (DR Congo). Pelage is long (10 mm) and woolly, deep grayish brown above with slight speckling, while the underparts are pale gray, with a gradual transition zone between the two. Foreand hindfeet are also pale gray with well-developed claws (2:5-2-6 mm on forefeet; 2:6-2-9 mm on hindfeet). The relatively long tail (c.75% of head-body length) is thickened at base, brown above and gray below with bristle hairs of up to 12 mm in length on 70-76% of its length. The specimen from the Udzungwa Mountains has a shorter hindfoot (16-5 mm) and shorter dorsal hair (6:5 mm), and differs slightly in coloration; more specimens are needed to evaluate these differences. The Desperate White-toothed Shrew is rather similar to the Kivu Long-haired White-toothed Shrew, which looks like a juvenile Scutisorex; the Kivu Long-haired White-toothed Shrew is larger and has a longertail and low pilosity (33%). The skulls of the two differ in size and form: that of the Desperate White-toothed Shrew is large and rather flat with elongated rostrum and narrow interorbital region. First incisor long and hooked; upper incisor long and gracile. First unicuspid larger than second and third which are equal in size. M* small. Condylo-incisive length is 25-27 mm. <b>Habitat.</b> In the Rungwe Forest, the Desperate White-toothed Shrew was caught in the mountain bamboo zone with Arundinaria alpina as the main plant. <b>Food and Feeding.</b> Elongated incisors suggest that earthworms may form part of the diet. <b>Breeding.</b> No information. <b>Activity patterns.</b> Long claws on hindfeet (similar to those of Myosorex spp.), comparatively small ears and dorsal surface of hindfoot with small scales and relatively few hairs suggest that Desperate White-toothed Shrews may be partly fossorial. In the Udzungwa Scarp Forest Reserve (2000 m) captured syntopically with Hildegarde’s White-toothed Shrew (C. hildegardeae), the African Giant White-toothed Shrew (C. olivier), Munissi’s White-toothed Shrew (C. munissii), Kihaule’s Mouse Shrew (Myosorex kihaulei), and the Climbing Shrew (Suncus megalurus). <b>Movements, Home range and Social organization.</b> No information. <b>Status and Conservation.</b> Classified as Endangered on The IUCN Red List because its extent of occurrenceis less than 5000 km?, its distribution is severely fragmented, and there is a continuing decline in the extent and quality of its habitat. The Desperate White-toothed Shrew is considered threatened by increasing forest loss and fragmentation in the Udzungwa Mountains of southern Tanzania. It may occur within the Udzungwa Mountains National Park, butits presence there is uncertain. There is an urgent need to conserve effectively the remaining tracts of montane forest inhabited by this species. <b>Bibliography.</b> Hutterer (2005b, 2013i), Hutterer, Howell &amp; Jenkins (2008), Hutterer, Jenkins &amp; Verheyen (1991), Stanley &amp; Hutterer (2007), Stanley et al. (2015).
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 515, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.6870843