Crocidura allex, Osgood, 1910
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publication ID |
https://doi.org/ 10.5281/zenodo.6870843 |
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DOI |
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6870335 |
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persistent identifier |
https://treatment.plazi.org/id/3D474A54-A05E-8732-FF20-AE001719F4DF |
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treatment provided by |
Felipe |
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scientific name |
Crocidura allex |
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East African Highland White-toothed Shrew
French: Crocidure d'Osgood / German: Ostafrikanische Hochland-WeiRzahnspitzmaus / Spanish: Musarana de tierras altas de Africa oriental
Other common names: East African Highland Shrew, Highlands Shrew
Taxonomy. Crocidura allex Osgood, 1910 View in CoL ,
“ Naivasha , British East Africa [= Kenya].”
The phylogenetic placement of this species is uncertain. Monotypic.
Distribution. Highlands of SW Kenya and NE Tanzania (Ngorogoro, Mt Meru, and Mt Kilimanjaro). View Figure
Descriptive notes. Head-body 55-64 mm, tail 45-55 mm, ear 7-9 mm, hindfoot 10-12 mm; weight 4-8 g. The East African Highland White-toothed Shrew is a small shrew with thick, dense pelage. Dorsal pelage is a burnt umber; ventral pelage is brownish gray, the individual hairs being gray basally and brownish gray terminally. Feet are dark brown and have sharp, pointed claws. Tail is relatively long (c.82% of head-body length), unicolored dark brown, and somewhat hairy, with longer bristle hairs throughout. Rostrum is short; maxillary width is medium for the genus; the interorbital constriction is wide; the braincase is wide and medium in height; the first incisor is moderately long and hooked; the third molar is wide. There are three unicuspids.
Habitat. Primarily alpine forest and bamboo forests at lower elevations; also in grassland at higher elevations, although less common in grassland and swampland. Thought to occur at elevations of 2000-4000 m.
Food and Feeding. No information.
Breeding. A pregnant female was captured in July on Mount Kilimanjaro.
Activity patterns. East African Highland White-toothed Shrews are terrestrial.
Movements, Home range and Social organization. No information.
Status and Conservation. Classified as Vulnerable on The IUCN Red List. The East African Highland White-toothed Shrew is considered relatively common within its restricted distribution although it seems to be threatened by habitat destruction in the form of agricultural expansion. It is found in protected areas on Mt Kilimanjaro and Mt Meru.
Bibliography. Hutterer (2013c), Hutterer, Jenkins & Baxter (2008), Osgood (1910a), Shore & Garbett (1991).
No known copyright restrictions apply. See Agosti, D., Egloff, W., 2009. Taxonomic information exchange and copyright: the Plazi approach. BMC Research Notes 2009, 2:53 for further explanation.
