Crocidura ordinaria, Esselstyn & Achmadi & Handika & Swanson & Giarla & Rowe, 2021

Esselstyn, Jacob A., Achmadi, Anang S., Handika, Heru, Swanson, Mark T., Giarla, Thomas C. & Rowe, Kevin C., 2021, Fourteen New, Endemic Species Of Shrew (Genus Crocidura) From Sulawesi Reveal A Spectacular Island Radiation, Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2021 (454), pp. 1-109 : 82-86

Crocidura ordinaria , new species

LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:62BBDEF5-DF9F-45B8-BA4F-0CCDDB65B8AD

HOLOTYPE: MZB 43011 (= FMNH 218726 ), an adult male, collected on 5 May 2012 by J.A. Esselstyn. The specimen comprises a skull ( fig. 41B ), formalin-fixed body, and frozen tissues. External measurements from the holotype are 142 mm × 65 mm × 16 mm × 10 mm = 11.0 g. The voucher specimen and a tissue sample will be permanently curated at MZB and an additional tissue sample will be retained at FMNH.

TYPE LOCALITY: Indonesia, Sulawesi Barat, Mamasa, Mamasa, Tondok Bakaru , Rantepangko , Mt. Gandang Dewata ; 2.8181° S, 119.3823° E, 2200 m elevation.

ETYMOLOGY: Ordinaria is Latin for “ordinary,” used in recognition that this is yet another species of shrew with no striking or unique phenotypic traits worthy of a descriptive name.

GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION: Crocidura ordinaria is found in the west-central area of endemism (Mt. Gandang Dewata, West Sulawesi Province and Mt. Torompupu, Central Sulawesi Province) ( fig. 39 ). The species spans an unusually broad elevational range from approximately 200 to 2600 m ( fig. 13 ; table 3 ).

DIAGNOSIS: A moderately sized shrew ( tables 2 , 14 ) with a somewhat stocky build. The pelage is medium to dark gray-brown and thick, with hairs at the middorsum typically 6–7 mm long. The venter is paler, with hairs that are pale gray at the tip, but dark gray at the base. In some specimens, the tips of some ventral hairs are reddish brown, giving the belly and chest pale cinnamon highlights. The mystacial vibrissae are short and darkly pigmented for at least half their lengths. Dorsally, the feet are nearly as dark as the pelage, but some specimens have much paler digits ( fig. 40B ). The tail is shorter than head and body ( fig. 9 ) and the abundance of tail bristles and applied hairs is variable. The skull of this species is typical in its length (relative to body size) for a Sulawesi shrew but is wide at the braincase and interorbital region relative to skull length ( fig. 10 ; table 14 ). The braincase, though broad, is not especially inflated vertically. The dentition is more prominent than expected given the palatal width ( fig. 41B ), but, otherwise, the skull of Crocidura ordinaria is unremarkable.

120°E 122°E 124°E 126°E

1.5°N

0° C. musseri C. normalis C. ordinaria C. solita 1.5°S

Recent sample sites 3°S Miller and Hollister (1921) type localities

100 km 4.5°S

0–1000 m 1000–2000 m 6°S> 2000 m

COMPARISONS: Crocidura ordinaria is a moderately sized member of the Ordinary Group. The tail is shorter than head-and-body length ( fig. 9 ; table 2 ). Members of the Long- Tailed Group are larger and have much longer tails. Rhoditis Group members C. rhoditis and C. pseudorhoditis are larger. Crocidura pallida and C. australis , also members of the Rhoditis Group, are only slightly larger than C. ordinaria in head-and-body length. Compared to C. ordinaria , C. pallida has paler feet dorsally, a narrower relative braincase breadth (BB/CIL) and a narrower relative interorbital width (IOW/CIL) whereas C. australis has a narrower relative interorbital width, but wider relative braincase breadth than C. ordinaria ( fig. 10 ). All members of the Small-Bodied Group are much smaller than C. ordinaria . Within the Ordinary Group, C. nigripes has darker feet and a relatively much narrower interorbital region and braincase than C. ordinaria . Compared to C. ordinaria , C. musseri has a thicker, darker pelage, and darker feet. Crocidura normalis is

darker in color, smaller in body size, has more bristles on its darkly colored tail, and its skull is narrower with a shorter relative rostral length (RL/CIL) than C. ordinaria . Crocidura solita , another member of the Ordinary Group, is difficult to distinguish morphologically from C. ordinaria . External measurements are nearly identical between these two species ( fig. 9 ), but C. ordinaria has a higher mass-to-length ratio ( fig. 17 ). The pelage and feet of C. ordinaria are darker and have a smaller hypothenar ( fig. 40 ), on average, than in C. solita . Cranially, C. ordinaria has a wider skull, observable in the absolute and relative breadths at the rostrum, interorbital region, and braincase ( figs. 10 , 42 ; table 14 ). Principal components analyses of external and cranial dimensions show that these two species overlap broadly in multivariate morphometric space, more so with external measurements than with cranial measurements ( fig. 43 ; tables 17, 18).

WIDTH 3

ROSTRAL 2.75 2.5

2.25 N = 16 N = 43

5.7

COMMENTS: See extensive comments detailing our decision to distinguish this species from Crocidura solita in the next species account.

5.4

3

M

TO 5.1

4

SPECIMENS EXAMINED: Mt. Gandang Dewata ( FMNH 218727–218743 , 218763–218767 , 218769 , 218771 , 218772 ; MZB 34806 , 34808 , 34816 , 34820 , 34827 , 34833 , 34856 , 34870 , 34871 , 34876 , 34877 , 34883 , 43011 ; NMV Z21910 , Z21911 , Z21938 ), Salu Tiwo ( FMNH 218744 ), Mt. Torompupu ( LSUMZ 39480 ; NMV C40252 , C40273 ).

Figures

FIG. 41. Images showing dorsal, ventral, and lateral views of the skull and lateral and occlusal views of the dentary of three species belonging to the Ordinary Group: A, Crocidura normalis, FMNH 213457; B, C. ordinaria, FMNH 218726; and C, C. solita, FMNH 213044.

FIG. 39. Map of Sulawesi showing localities sampled for shrews. Colored areas enclose localities with known records of members of the Ordinary Group. To maintain clarity of presentation, the widespread Crocidura nigripes is not included.

FIG. 13. Elevational records of all species of Crocidura known from Sulawesi. Each point represents a specimen. For specimens associated with a minimum and maximum elevation, we used the center of the given elevational range. Sample sizes are given above the x-axis. Species are grouped according to the species groups used in the text (Thick = Thick-Tailed Group).

FIG. 40. Images showing the ventral surface of the hind foot and dorsal surfaces of the tail base (approximately 1 cm from rump) and tail tip from three members of the Ordinary Group: A, Crocidura normalis, FMNH 213174 (left hind foot); B, C. ordinaria, FMNH 218726 (right hind foot); and C, C. solita, FMNH 213015 (left hind foot). Upper scale bar for foot, lower bar corresponds to both tail images.

FIG. 9. Box plots showing variation in external measurements from all species of Sulawesi shrew. Plots show the median, 1st and 3rd quartiles, the maximum value within 1.5 × interquartile range (distance between 1st and 3rd quartiles; IQR), the minimum value within 1.5 × IQR, and outliers (black circles). Sample sizes are shown along the x-axis. Species are grouped according to the species groups used in the text (Thick = Thick- Tailed Group). All measurements in mm. HBL = head-and-body length.

FIG. 10. Box plots of relative skull measures showing braincase breadth (BB), interorbital width (IOW), and rostral length (RL) divided by condyloincisive length (CIL) and BB divided by IOW for all species of Sulawesi shrew. Plots show the median, 1st and 3rd quartiles, the maximum value within 1.5 × interquartile range (distance between 1st and 3rd quartiles; IQR), the minimum value within 1.5 × IQR, and outliers (black circles). Sample sizes are shown along the x-axis. Species are ordered according to the species groups used in the text (Thick = Thick-Tailed Group).

FIG. 17. Box plots showing the length of the hind foot (HF) relative to the head-and-body length (HBL) and the ratio of mass to HBL. Plots show the median, 1st and 3rd quartiles, the maximum value within 1.5 × interquartile range (distance between 1st and 3rd quartiles; IQR), the minimum value within 1.5 × IQR, and outliers (black circles). Sample sizes are shown along the x-axis. Species are ordered along the x-axis according to the species groups used in the text (Thick = Thick-Tailed Group). Lengths are in mm and mass is in grams.

FIG. 42. Box plots showing subtle differences in cranial measurements between Crocidura solita and C. ordinaria, two members of the Ordinary Group. Plots show the median, 1st and 3rd quartiles, the maximum value within 1.5 × interquartile range (distance between 1st and 3rd quartiles; IQR), the minimum value within 1.5 × IQR, and outliers (black circles). Sample sizes are shown along the x-axis. All measurements in mm.

FIG. 43. Bivariate plots showing the first two axes from principal components analyses of A, five external and B, 12 cranial measurements from Crocidura solita and C. ordinaria, two members of the Ordinary Group. Loadings and variance explained are given in tables 17 and 18, respectively.