Sorex caecutiens Laxmann, 1788

Rainer Hutterer, 1993, Order Insectivora, Mammal Species of the World (2 nd Edition), Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. 69-130 : 113

Sorex caecutiens Laxmann, 1788 . Nova Acta Acad. Sci. Petropoli, 1785, 3:285 [1788].

TYPE LOCALITY: Russia, Buryatskaya ASSR, SW shore of Lake Baikal ( Pavlinov and Rossolimo, 1987:17) .

DISTRIBUTION: Taiga and tundra zones from E Europe to E Siberia, south to C Ukraine, N Kazakhstan, Altai Mtns, Mongolia, Gansu and NE China, to Korea and Sakhalin.

SYNONYMS: altaicus, annexas, araneoides, buxtoni, centralis, koreni, lapponicus, macropygmaeus, karpinskii, pleskei, rozanovi, tasicus, tungussensis.

COMMENTS: Subgenus Sorex . This species still offers many unsolved problems, along with the species of the tundrensis and arcticus groups. Names like annexus, cansulus , granarius , and shinto have been included in caecutiens in the past but are presently included in other species or treated as separate species; see Hoffmann (1987) for a discussion of problems. The European range was reviewed by Sulkava (1990).