Crocidura suaveolens (Pallas 1811)

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 : 250

Crocidura suaveolens (Pallas 1811)

[Sorex] suaveolens Pallas 1811 , Zoographia Rosso-Asiatica, Vol. 1: 133.

Type Locality: Russia, Crimea, Khersones, near Sevastopol.

Vernacular Names: Lesser White-toothed Shrew.

Synonyms: Crocidura antipae Matschie 1901 ; Crocidura aralychensis Satunin 1914 ; Crocidura ariadne Pieper 1979 ; Crocidura astrabadensis Goodwin 1940 ; Crocidura balcanica Ondrias 1970 ; Crocidura balearica Miller 1907 ; Crocidura bogdanowii Tichomirov and Kortchagin 1889 ; Crocidura bruecheri Lehmann 1977 ; Crocidura caneae Miller 1909 ; Crocidura cantabra Cabrera 1908 ; Crocidura cassiteridum Hinton 1924 ; Crocidura corsicana Heim de Balsac and Reynaud 1940 ; Crocidura cypria Bate 1904 ; Crocidura cyrnensis Miller 1907 ; Crocidura debeauxi Dal Piaz 1925 ; Crocidura dinnicki Ognev 1922 ; Crocidura enezsizunensis Heim de Balsac and Beaufort 1966 ; Crocidura fumigatus di Filippi 1863 ; Crocidura gueldenstaedtii ( Pallas 1811) ; Crocidura iculisma Mottaz 1908 ; Crocidura italica Cavazza 1912 ; Crocidura longicaudata Tichomirov and Kortchagin 1889 ; Crocidura mimula Miller 1901 ; Crocidura mimuloides Cavazza 1912 ; Crocidura minor de Sélys Longchamps 1839 ; Crocidura minuta Lydekker 1902 ; Crocidura monacha Thomas 1906 ; Crocidura oyaensis Heim de Balsac 1940 ; Crocidura pamirensis Ognev 1928 ; Crocidura praecypria Reumer and Oberli 1988 ; Crocidura sarda Cavazza 1912 ; Crocidura tristami (Bodenheimer 1935) ; Crocidura uxantisi Heim de Balsac 1951 .

Distribution: Palearctic from Spain to Siberia; Atlantic isls (Scilly, Jersey, Sark, Ushant, Yeu, and others; see Cosson et al., 1996); many Mediterranean isls including Corsica, Crete, Cyprus, and Menorca.

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc) as C. suaveolens and C. gueldenstaedtii .

Discussion: A widespread and variable species which has often been confused with russula ; the taxonomic status of many E Asian forms has recently been discussed; see also under rapax and shantungensis . The European, Arabian, and Asian ranges were reviewed by Vlasák and Niethammer (1990), Harrison and Bates (1991), and Jiang and Hoffmann (2001), respectively. The name gueldenstaedtii has produced much confusion. Ellerman and Morrison-Scott (1966) listed it as a subspecies of russula and were followed by Corbet (1978 c), among others. Richter (1970) applied gueldenstaedtii even to Mediterranean populations of suaveolens and was followed in that action by Kahmann and Vesmanis (1976). Hutterer (1981 d) suggested that all these populations represent suaveolens ; this was supported by karyological (2n = 40, FN = 50) and biochemical data ( Catzeflis et al., 1985). Despite convincing evidence, some Russian authors (e.g., Graphodatsky et al., 1988) still claim the existence of gueldenstaedtii as a species in the Caucasus. Bannikova et al. (2001 a) however found no genetic differences between populations from N and S Caucasus. Vogel et al. (2003) compared the mtDNA of specimens from Georgia (type locality of gueldenstaedtii ) with specimens from Greece and Italy ( suaveolens ) and found no big difference. A specimen from Spain was more distant than samples from Europe and Georgia.