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

description: 284. Guldenstadt’s White-toothed Shrew <i>Crocidura gueldenstaedtii</i> <b>French:</b> Crocidure du Caucase / <b>German:</b> Glldenstadt-Weil3zahnspitzmaus / <b>Spanish:</b> Musarana de Glildenstadt <b>Other common names:</b> Glldenstadt's Shrew <b>Taxonomy.</b> Sorex gueldenstaedtic Pallas, 1811, Dusheti (near Thilisi), Georgia. Evidence retrieved from karyotype compo- sition and mtDNA and nDNA sequences places C. gueldenstaedtii in the C. suaveolens group. The C. suaveolens group is extremely complex in structure and includes many close species, superspecies, semispecies, and forms with indeterminate status. Difficulties arise because certain species that are easy to distinguish morphologically (e.g. C. caspicaand C. sibirica) are very close to C. suaveolens at the molecular level, while certain species that are almost undistinguishable morphologically are highly distant at the molecular level (e.g. C. suaveolens and C. shantungensis). Nevertheless, C. suaveolens, C. caspica, C. sibirica, C. shantungensis, and C. aleksandrisi have relatively recently been recognized as individual species by most zoologists. The resulting situation is paradoxical. The two forms genetically close to C. suaveolens (C. caspica and C. sibirica) have species status; C. aleksandrisi of the C. gueldenstaedtii group also has species status; but C. suaveolens and C. gueldenstaedtii are combined in one species, while being distant genetically and easily distinguished morphologically (Caucasian populations). Crocidura gueldenstaedtii is known to be heterogeneous, and it is possible to divide it into six species by mtDNA structure, but two of them (small Mediterranean islands along western shore of Turkey and central Iran) lack even subspecific names. It makes no sense to consider the six forms as separate species in the absence of nDNA data because hybridization is known to occur in the C. suaveolens group, and some of the forms might be highly specific mitotypes rather than species. The six forms are significantly closer to each other than to C. suaveolens, which essentially acts as an outgroup for them. Based on currently available data, C. suaveolens and C. gueldenstaedtii are expedient to recognize as separate species, thus making another important step to improving taxonomy of the C. suaveolens group. Genetic clades are considered subspecies in this account, and each of them might eventually be recognized as an independent form and divided into additional subspecies. Four subspecies recognized. <b>Subspecies and Distribution.</b> C.g.gueldenstaedtiiPallas,1811—SEuropeanRussia(WCaucasus),Georgia,Armenia,Azerbaijan,Turkey,WIran,Syria,Iraq,Lebanon,Israel,Jordan,Egypt(Sinai),andsomeMediterraneanIs,includingCrete,Corsica,andMinorcaintheBalearicIs;itmightoccurinSaudiArabia. C.g.cypriaBate,1903—Cyprus. C.g.iculismaMottaz,1908—N&amp;WIberianPeninsula,SFrance,SarkI(ChannelIs),andNWItaly. C. g. mimula G. S. Miller, 1901 — Europe (from NW France, Switzerland, and N Italy E to W Ukraine and Balkan Peninsula). <b>Descriptive notes.</b> Head—body 77-86 mm (immatures 55-74 mm), tail 41-56 mm; weight 8-5-13-3 g (immatures 6-3-8 g). Pregnant females weigh up to 17-5 g. Giildenstadt’s White-toothed Shrew is medium-sized and lightly built. Tail is 65-90% of head-body length. Pelage is bicolored. Dorsum varies from smoky gray or brownish gray to brown. Venter is light gray. Demarcation between dorsum and venter is not distinct. Tail is often unicolored and occasionally bicolored. Typical chromosomal complement has 2n = 40 and FN = 50, with four pairs of metacentric and submetacentric autosomes and 15 pairs of acrocentric autosomes. X-chromosome is large metacentric, and Y-chromosome is small acrocentric. Chromosomal complement has 2n = 40-41 and FN = 50-52 in Czech Republic and 2n = 40-42 and FN = 50-54 in Switzerland. Supernumerary B-chromosomes account for higher numbers of chromosomes and arms. <b>Habitat.</b> Shrublands with pronounced grass stands not affected by intense grazing. In arid regions, Guldenstadt’s White-toothed Shrew lives around water bodies or in farmlands with artificial irrigation. Abundance is highest in the Kolkhida Lowlands (Georgia). It is found in small human settlements and often invades human houses. <b>Food and Feeding.</b> Diet of Guldenstadt’s White-toothed Shrew includes larval and adult insects, gastropods, woodlice, myriapods, and plant material. After invading human houses,it feeds on stored food, including meat and even fruit. Cases of eating carcasses of mammals and birds are known, but explicit data on this are lacking. <b>Breeding.</b> Nests of Guldenstadt’s White-toothed Shrew are placed on the ground in high grass stands; lined with dry grass, fine hair, and similar soft materials; and similar in appearance to birds’ nests. It is unknown if these nests are used in all parts of the distribution or only in optimal mesophilic biotopes. Reproduction starts in April and ends in October in Georgia. Winter reproduction can occur in subtropical conditions of the Kolkhida Lowlands. Young-of-the-year are extensively involved in reproduction. Numbers of embryos are 1-10/female (average 5-5). Twenty-one pregnant females in Turkey had 2-7 embryos (average 4-7), and four pregnant females on Cyprus had 2-5 embryos (average 3-3). <b>Activity patterns.</b> Guldenstadt’s White-toothed Shrew is active around the clock, with peaks at night and dusk. They were more often captured in traps in these periods of time. Like in other white-toothed shrews (Crocidura), young form a caravan by holding base of tail or rear of the one in front with its teeth, and the first young holds onto the mother. <b>Movements, Home range and Social organization.</b> Four older Guldenstadt’s Whitetoothed Shrews (overwintering adults) were captured in September. They all were females, suggesting that males die earlier than females at the end of a breeding season. <b>Status and Conservation.</b> Not assessed on The IUCN Red List. Gildenstadt's Whitetoothed Shrew was included under the Lesser White-toothed Shrew (C. suaveolens), classified as Least Concern. Distribution of Giildenstadt’s White-toothed Shrew is quite unusual and its distribution might be explained by ancient ways of migration butis more likely to result from occasional transfers by mariners in ancient times or Early Middle Ages. Giildenstadt’s White-toothed Shrew is dominant in small mammal communities in the Colchis lowlands on the eastern Black Sea coast. Although abundant Or common in certain regions, it is rare in most of its distribution, particularly in arid and forest habitats. <b>Bibliography.</b> Bannikova et al. (2006), Dubey, Cosson et al. (2007), Hutterer &amp; Harrison (1988), Karami et al. (2008), Krystufek &amp; Vohralik (2001), Kuvikovéa (1987), Meylan &amp; Hausser (1974), Satunin (1915), Sokolov &amp; Tembotov (1989), Vlasak &amp; Niethammer (1990), Zaitsev (1991), Zaitsev et al. (2014), Zima et al. (1998).
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 496, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.6870843