Type specimens of “ insectivoran ” mammals at the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin
Author
Turni, Hendrik
Author
Hutterer, Rainer
Author
Asher, Robert
text
Zootaxa
2007
1470
1
33
journal article
49711
10.5281/zenodo.273750
b791e095-c2b5-46d1-8666-d67f9f3c4347
1175-5326
273750
Crocidura albicauda
Peters, 1866
Peters, W.C.H.
(
1866
)
Vorlãufige Ü bersicht der aus dem Nachlasse des Baron Carl von der Decken stammenden und auf seiner ostafricanischen Reise gesammelten Sãugethiere und Amphibien
.
Monatsberichte der Königlich Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin
:
885
[
884–892
].
Valid name:
Suncus murinus
(Linnaeus, 1766)
Syntypes
: ZMB 83302, female, juv., body in alcohol; ZMB 3463, male, adult, in alcohol, skull extracted. Collected by von der Decken from Angasija [Ngasidja, Grande
Comore
] ca. 1862.
Comments: Hutterer & Tranier (1990) discussed the status of
C. albicauda
. ZMB 3463 has the dental formula of
Crocidura
, but resembles
Suncus
in other skull characteristics, body size, and in having a thick, hairy white tail. Hence, Hutterer & Tranier regarded the specimen to be a
Suncus murinus
, missing one pair of unicuspid teeth. Specimens collected later by Voeltzkow on the same island are definitely
Suncus murinus
. Symmetrical absence of last upper unicuspid is not unusual in
Suncus murinus
and was also found in several Japanese populations, in one case in 100% of all animals from Nagasaki (Koyasu
et al.
2005).