Sorex (Sorex) araneus Linnaeus 1758

Wilson, Don E. & Reeder, DeeAnn, 2005, Order Soricomorpha, Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3 rd Edition), Volume 1, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 220-311 : 283

Sorex (Sorex) araneus Linnaeus 1758

Sorex (Sorex) araneus Linnaeus 1758 , Syst. Nat., 10th ed., Vol. 1: 53 .

Type Locality: " in Europe cryptis "; restricted to Uppsala, Sweden by Thomas (1911 a:143) .

Vernacular Names: Common Shrew.

Synonyms: Sorex (Sorex) bergensis Miller 1909 ; Sorex (Sorex) bohemicus Stepanek 1944 ; Sorex (Sorex) bolkayi Martino 1930 ; Sorex (Sorex) carpathicus Barrett-Hamilton 1905 ; Sorex (Sorex) castaneus Jenys 1838 ; Sorex (Sorex) concinnus Wagler 1832 ; Sorex (Sorex) csikii Ehik 1928 ; Sorex (Sorex) daubentonii Cuvier 1829 ; Sorex (Sorex) eleonorae Wettstein 1927 ; Sorex (Sorex) grantii Barrett-Hamilton and Hinton 1913 ; Sorex (Sorex) hermanni Duvernoy 1834 ; Sorex (Sorex) huelleri Lehmann 1966 ; Sorex (Sorex) ignotus Fatio 1905 ; Sorex (Sorex) iochanseni Ognev 1933 ; Sorex (Sorex) labiosus Jenys 1839 ; Sorex (Sorex) macrotrichus de Sélys Longchamps 1839 ; Sorex (Sorex) marchicus Passarge 1984 ; Sorex (Sorex) melanodon Wagler 1832 ; Sorex (Sorex) mollis Fatio 1900 ; Sorex (Sorex) nigra Fatio 1869 ; Sorex (Sorex) novyensis Schaefer 1975 ; Sorex (Sorex) nuda Fatio 1869 ; Sorex (Sorex) pallidus Fitzinger 1868 ; Sorex (Sorex) personatus Millet 1828 ; Sorex (Sorex) petrovi Martino 1939 ; Sorex (Sorex) peucinius Thomas 1913 ; Sorex (Sorex) preussi ( Matschie 1893) ; Sorex (Sorex) pulcher Zalesky 1937 ; Sorex (Sorex) pyrenaicus Miller 1909 ; Sorex (Sorex) pyrrhonota (Jentink 1910) ; Sorex (Sorex) quadricaudatus Kerr 1792 ; Sorex (Sorex) ryphaeus Yudin 1989 ; Sorex (Sorex) sultanae Simsek 1986 ; Sorex (Sorex) surinamensis Gmelin 1788 ; Sorex (Sorex) tetragonurus Hermann 1780 ; Sorex (Sorex) uralensis Ognev 1933 ; Sorex (Sorex) vulgaris Nilsson 1847 ; Sorex (Sorex) wettsteini Bauer 1960 .

Distribution: C, E, and N Europe including the British Isls (with some isolated populations in France, Italy and Spain), east to Siberia.

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Subgenus Sorex , S. araneus group. S. araneus is the preferred Palearctic species for studies in ecology and evolution; see Hausser et al. (1990), Hausser (1991), and Wójcik et al. (2002) for reviews. Karyotype variable (2n = 20-33, FN = 40). The species is well known for its Robertsonian chromosome polymorphism ( Meylan, 1964) and for the tendency to establish local karyotype races ( Hausser et al., 1985; Searle, 1984; Searle and Wójcik, 1998, 2000; Volobouev, 2003; Zima and Král, 1984 b; Zima et al., 1994). In Switzerland two karyotype races occur that behave like parapatric species ( Hausser et al., 1986); see under S. antinorii . Includes Blarina pyrrhonota Jentink, 1910 , a name assigned to Cryptotis surinamensis by Cabrera (1958); however, Husson (1963) showed that the locality information was incorrect and that it was based on a Sorex araneus . The holotype skin (skull lost) of Myosorex preussi Matschie, 1893 , formerly thought to represent an endemic species of Mt. Cameroon ( Heim de Balsac, 1968 b), is a Sorex araneus and therefore included as a synonym. Sorex isodon marchicus , described from E Germany ( Passarge, 1984), is included in araneus as no clear morphological characters distinguish it from the latter ( Turni et al., 2001), and because its karyotype represents the Laska race of the common shrews (Brünner et al., 2002 c).