Crocidura thalia Dippenaar 1980
Creators: name: Mittermeier, Russell A.
name: Wilson, Don E.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Mammalia
Soricomorpha
Soricidae
Crocidura
Crocidura thalia

description: 327. Thalia’s White-toothed Shrew <i>Crocidura thalia</i> <b>French:</b> Crocidure thalie / <b>German:</b> Thalia-Weil3zahnspitzmaus / <b>Spanish:</b> Musarana de Thalia <b>Other common names:</b> Thalia's Shrew <b>Taxonomy.</b> Crocidura thalia Dippenaar, 1980, “Gredeb Mts (= Gedeb Mts), SE Dodola, north-western Bale Province, 2 600 m a.s.l. (06°55°N; 39°10°E).” Belongs to the Ethiopian endemic C. glass: group, along with C. afeworkbekelei, C. yaldeni, C. glassi, C. baileyi, C. macmillani, and C. lucina. This species seems to be the close sister species to C. glassi, based on genetic data. Monotypic. <b>Distribution.</b> W &amp; E of the Rift Valley in three disjunct regions in NW, WC &amp; SC Ethiopia. <b>Descriptive notes.</b> Head-body 77-100 mm, tail 55-69 mm, ear 10-13 mm, hindfoot 15-19 mm; weight 9-26 g. Thalia’s White-toothed Shrew is medium-sized to large. Dorsal pelage is grayish brown (W of the Ethiopian Rift Valley) to dark gray with a brown to reddish brown wash (E of the Ethiopian Rift Valley), individual hairs having a gray base and brown to reddish brown tip; ventral pelage is pale gray to blackish with an ocher wash, individual hairs having a gray to dark gray base with a pale yellowish to ocher yellowish tip. Feet are brownish dorsally. Tail is relatively long (c.70% of head— body length), bicolored, being dark brown dorsally and brown below, and hairy, with longerbristle hairs dispersed all over. Braincase inflated as in other species of montane Ethiopian endemic Crocidura. There are three unicuspids. Karyotype is 2n = 36. <b>Habitat.</b> Found in open habitats, primarily from humid woodland savanna to highland grasslands and scrub. Thalia’s White-toothed Shrews avoid Afromontane forests with dense canopy, instead inhabiting the moist riverine habitats. Recorded at elevations of 515-3300 m. <b>Food and Feeding.</b> No information. <b>Breeding.</b> No information; species does not seem to breed during the dry season. <b>Activity patterns.</b> Thalia’s White-toothed Shrew is terrestrial and probably nocturnal. <b>Movements, Home range and Social organization.</b> No information. <b>Status and Conservation.</b> Classified as Least Concern on The IUCN Red List. Thalia’s White-toothed Shrew is markedly common throughoutits wide distribution and seems to face no major threats. It is the most widespread of the Ethiopian endemic shrews. The species occurs in the Bale Mountains National Park. <b>Bibliography.</b> Dippenaar (1980a), Hutterer &amp; Yalden (1990), Lavrenchenko (2013e, 2016d), Lavrenchenko, Bannikova &amp; Lebedev (2009), Lavrenchenko, Milishnikov et al. (1997), Lavrenchenko, Voyta &amp; Hutterer (2016), Yalden (1988), Yalden et al. (1996).
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 511, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.6870843