Crocidura australis 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 australis

description: <i>Crocidura australis</i>, new species LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank. org:act: 3ABC433E-7C35-47DD-B52B- D33CC37F8F62 HOLOTYPE: MZB 43003 (= MVZ 237610), an adult of unknown sex collected by K.C. Rowe on 30 October 2016. The specimen was preserved as a study skin, cleaned skull (fig. 24) and skeleton, and frozen tissues. External measurements from the holotype are: 141 mm × 65 mm × 16 mm × 11 mm = 9.8 g. The voucher specimen and a tissue sample will be permanently curated at MZB, with another tissue sample retained at MVZ. TYPE LOCALITY: Indonesia, Sulawesi Selatan, Sinjai, Sinjai Barat, Gunung Perak Village, Mt. Bawakaraeng; 5.308463° S, 119.948661° E, 2390– 2550 m elevation. ETYMOLOGY: We use the Latin for “southern,” as this species is the most southern member of the Rhoditis Group. GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION: This species is known only from the south-west area of endemism and was only collected from Mt. Bawakaraeng, South Sulawesi Province (fig. 20) on traplines placed around 1660–2040 and 2390– 2550 m elevation (fig. 13; table 3). DIAGNOSIS: <i>Crocidura australis</i> is a mediumsized shrew (tables 2, 7) with a thick, mediumbrown dorsal pelage and slightly paler venter. Hairs of the middorsum are 6–7 mm long. The color of the tail matches that of the dorsal pelage, but the feet are paler than the surrounding fur, particularly on the digits (fig. 21A). The tail is slightly shorter than the head-and-body length and not distinctly bicolored. Applied hairs on the tail are inconspicuous and bristles are sparsely distributed along the proximal half of tail length. The claws are translucent and surrounded by small tufts of white hairs. On the hind foot, the claws are long and the tufts more prominent than on the forefoot. The foot pads are more darkly pigmented than the surrounding plantar and palmar surfaces, but the difference is greater on the hind foot than on the forefoot. The external ears, though not small, are indistinct from the surrounding fur, due to the matching color, length, and density of the pelage. The mystacial vibrissae are relatively short, and mostly unpigmented. A few pigmented vibrissae are found posterior to the shorter, unpigmented vibrissae. Those with pigment are pigmented only proximally, typically for no more than half of their length. The braincase is wide relative to skull length (fig. 10), high, and somewhat angular, with a lateral point in the mastoid region and relatively prominent lambdoidal ridges (fig. 24A). The ridge formed by the parietal-squamosal suture is indistinct. The interorbital region is also wide relative to skull length (fig. 10), but it is strongly tapered. Despite the strongly tapered interorbital region, the maxillary process is not prominent when viewed from the dorsal aspect. The dentition is somewhat prominent relative to palatal width (fig. 24A). COMPARISONS: <i>Crocidura australis</i> is substantially larger in body size than all members of the Small-Bodied Group and somewhat larger than <i>C. musseri</i>, <i>C. ordinaria</i>, and <i>C. solita</i> of the Ordinary Group (fig. 9). It is smaller than members of the Thick-Tailed Group and Elongata Subgroup. Relative to members of the Rhoditis Group, it is smaller than <i>C. rhoditis</i> and <i>C. pseudorhoditis</i> in all dimensions except ear length, but similar in size to <i>C. pallida</i> (figs. 19, 23; tables 2, 7). In color, <i>C. australis</i> is darker than all other members of the Rhoditis Group, particularly on the feet. <i>Crocidura ordinaria</i> and <i>C. solita</i> of the Ordinary Group are similar in color and only a little smaller, but their braincases are more rounded than in <i>C. australis</i>. The somewhat angular shape of the braincase, however, is nevertheless more rounded than in <i>C. pseudorhoditis</i>. The great relative breadth of the braincase (BB /CIL) in <i>C. australis</i> distinguishes it from all other species except <i>C. baletei</i> (much smaller and darker), <i>C. levicula</i> (much smaller and darker), <i>C. musseri</i> (smaller and darker), and <i>C. ordinaria</i> (smaller). In comparison to other Rhoditis Group species, <i>C. australis</i> is substantially smaller in condyloincisive length and braincase breadth than the much larger skull of <i>C. rhoditis</i> and the somewhat larger skull of <i>C. pseudorhoditis</i> (fig. 19). Condyloincisive length is somewhat smaller than in <i>C. pallida</i>, although these two species are quite similar in head-and-body length. The interorbital region and labial breadth at M2 are also narrower than noted in <i>C. rhoditis</i> or <i>C. pseudorhoditis</i> (table 7). Relative rostral length (RL / CIL) in <i>C. australis</i> is less than in any other member of the Rhoditis Group, though only slightly so compared to <i>C. pallida</i>. COMMENTS: Published references to <i>C. rhoditis</i> from the southwestern peninsula (Musser, 1987; Ruedi, 1995) probably refer to this species. <i>Crocidura australis</i> was consistently inferred as sister to the clade containing <i>C. ordinaria</i> and <i>C. solita</i> of the Ordinary Group with varying degrees of support (figs. 4, 5, 7, 8; supplementary data 6). SPECIMENS EXAMINED: Mt. Bawakaraeng (MZB 40991, 41027, 43003; NMV Z56801, NMV Z57200, NMV Z57223).
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 48-49, DOI: 10.1206/0003-0090.454.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/5788835
description: {"references": ["Musser, G. G. 1987. The mammals of Sulawesi. In T. C. Whitmore (editor), Biogeographical evolution of the Malay archipelago: 73 - 91. Oxford: Clarendon Press.", "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."]}