Cryptotis parva (Say 1823)

[Sorex] parvus Say 1823, in: James, Account Exped. Pittsburgh to Rocky Mtns, Vol. 1: 163.

Type Locality: "Engineer Cantonment," west bank of Missouri River; restricted by Jones (1964:68) to USA, Nebraska, Washington Co., approximately 2 mi. (3.2 km) east Ft. Calhoun.

Vernacular Names: North American Least Shrew.

Subspecies::

Subspecies Cryptotis parva subsp. parva Say 1823

Subspecies Cryptotis parva subsp. berlandieri Baird 1858

Subspecies Cryptotis parva subsp. floridana Merriam 1895

Subspecies Cryptotis parva subsp. pueblensis Jackson 1933

Subspecies Cryptotis parva subsp. soricina Merriam 1895

Distribution: Extreme SE Canada through EC and SW USA and Mexico S to Chiapas and W to Nayarit.

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Reviewed by Whitaker (1974, Mammalian Species No. 43), who recognized 9 subspecies, 5 of which occur in Middle America (Choate, 1970). Woodman (2002) concluded that orophila is a diagnosable species; see under that name. The remaining taxa are tentatively assigned to the five subspecies noted here (Carraway, pers. comm., 2003; Woodman, pers. comm., 2002). Some of these taxa may in fact represent good species. Karyotypes from Missouri and Texas count 2n = 52, FN = 54 (Genoways et al., 1977).