Crocidura olivieri (Lesson 1827)

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 : 244

Crocidura olivieri (Lesson 1827)

[Crocidura] olivieri (Lesson 1827) , Manuel de Mammalogie: 121.

Type Locality: Egypt, Sakkara; the neotype designated by Corbet (1978 c:30) was collected "near Giza " .

Vernacular Names: African Giant Shrew.

Subspecies: :

Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. olivieri Lesson 1827

Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. anchietae Bocage 1889

Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. bueae Heim de Balsac and Barloy 1966

Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. cara Dollmann 1915

Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. cinereoaenea Rüppell 1842

Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. darfurea Thomas and Hinton 1923

Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. giffardi de Winton 1898

Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. guineensis Cabrera 1903

Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. hansruppi Hutterer 1981

Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. hedenborgiana Sundevall 1843

Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. kivu Osgood 1910

Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. manni Peters 1878

Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. martiensseni Neumann 1900

Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. nyansae Neumann 1900

Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. occidentalis Pucheran 1855

Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. odorata Leconte 1857

Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. spurelli Thomas 1910

Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. sururae Heller 1910

Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. toritensis Setzer 1956

Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. zuleika Dollman 1915

Distribution: Egypt; Mauretania to Ethiopia, and southwards to N South Africa.

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Crocidura olivieri is the valid and widely used name for large African shrews previously known as flavescens (which is now the valid name for a species restricted to South Africa; see Maddalena et al., 1987). Chitaukali et al. (2001) recently proposed to use occidentalis instead of olivieri , which they regard as a nomen dubium, despite the neotype designation by Corbet (1978). The description of C. olivieri was based on a large mummified shrew from Ancient Egypt. The same species occurs in Egypt today (Hutterer, 1994), and there is no reason to believe that the name olivieri does not refer to the extant species.

This group of giant shrews was reviewed by Heim de Balsac and Barloy (1966). Well known subspecies names are anchietae, doriana, ferruginea, fuscosa, giffardi, guineeensis, hansruppi, hedenborgiana, kivu, manni, martiensseni, nyansae, occidentalis , odorata , spurelli, and sururae. Some of these were considered allospecies of a flavescens superspecies by Hutterer and Happold (1983). Many authors also distinguished pale ( occidentalis , manni, spurelli) and black (giffardi, hedenborgiana, martiensseni, odorata ) color morphs as different species but biochemical evidence showed that they are merely color morphs of a single and highly variable species (Maddalena, 1990). Crocidura olivieri may also include zaphiri ; see Yalden et al. (1976).