Crocidura xantippe, 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.6870337 |
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persistent identifier |
https://treatment.plazi.org/id/3D474A54-A05E-8732-FF22-A0281475FB57 |
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treatment provided by |
Felipe |
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scientific name |
Crocidura xantippe |
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Xanthippe’s White-toothed Shrew
Crocidura xantippe View in CoL
French: Crocidure de Xanthippe / German: Xanthippe-WeilRzahnspitzmaus / Spanish: Musarana de Xanthippe
Other common names: ermiculate Shrew, Xanthippe's Shrew, Yellow-footed Shrew
Taxonomy. Crocidura xantippe Osgood, 1910 View in CoL ,
“ Voi , British East Africa [= Kenya].”
The phylogenetic relationship of C. xantippe is uncertain, although it is probably related to C. hirta . Monotypic.
Distribution. SE Kenya and NE Tanzania, as well as a disjunct record from NW Kenya, although this specimen needs to be further examined for misidentification. View Figure
Descriptive notes. Head-body 89-98 mm, tail 55-67 mm, ear 10-12 mm, hindfoot 14— 16 mm; weight 12-14 g. Xanthippe’s White-toothed Shrew is a large shrew with short pelage and prominent ears. Dorsal pelage is pale brown with a fine speckling of paler color throughout, the individual hairs being slate-gray and some tipped with brown, which gives the pelage its speckled appearance; ventral pelage is whitish gray with a yellowish
wash along the ventral midline, narrow on neck and wider on chest and abdomen, the hairs being grayish white or gray on basal half, yellowish white on distal half. Forefeet pale brown to yellowish brown; the hindfeet are paler than the forefeet. Tail is relatively long (¢.66% of head-body length), slightly bicolored, being whitish gray below, turning browner on distal third, and relatively hairy, with longer bristle hairs throughout. There are three unicuspids.
Habitat. Collected in dry thornscrub,slightly disturbed montane forest, and a eucalypt plantation, at elevations of 1100-1300 m.
Food and Feeding. No information.
Breeding. A lactating female was captured in July in the West Usambara Mountains.
Activity patterns. Xanthippe’s White-toothed Shrew is terrestrial.
Movements, Home range and Social organization. No information.
Status and Conservation. Classified as Least Concern on The IUCN Red List. Xanthippe’s White-toothed Shrew seems to be rare within its small distribution, accounting for only 1-5% of 53 shrews captured in the West Usambara Mountains. The species is found in Tsavo East and Tsavo West national parks.
Bibliography. Aggundey & Schlitter (1986), Hutterer (2016c), Osgood (1910b), Stanley (2013h), Stanley, Kihaule et al. (1998).
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.
