Crocidura

<i>Crocidura</i>

Crocidura

Genus of mammals

The genus Crocidura is one of nine genera of the shrew subfamily Crocidurinae. Members of the genus are commonly called white-toothed shrews or musk shrews, although both also apply to all of the species in the subfamily. With over 180 species, Crocidura contains the most species of any mammal genus.[3] The name Crocidura means "woolly tail", because the tail of Crocidura species are covered in short hairs interspersed with longer ones.[4]

Quick Facts Scientific classification, Type species ...

They are found throughout all tropical and temperate regions of the Old World, from South Africa north to Europe, and east throughout Asia, as far east as the Malay Archipelago. One species, the possibly extinct Christmas Island shrew (C. trichura), also inhabited Christmas Island. They likely originated in Africa or Asia Minor during the Miocene, spread to Europe by the early Pliocene, and spread to eastern Asia and the Mediterranean by the Pleistocene.[5][6]

List of species

Further information: List of crocidurines

Extant species

Extinct species

  • †Crocidura balsamifera (known only from embalmed Crocidura mummies from Ancient Egypt)[16]

Fossil species

  • †Crocidura abdallahi (Pleistocene of Morocco)[17]
  • †Crocidura darelbeidae (Pleistocene of Morocco)[17]
  • †Crocidura jaegeri (Pleistocene of Morocco)[17]
  • †Crocidura kornfeldi (Pliocene to Pleistocene of Europe)[6]
  • †Crocidura kapsominensis (Miocene of Kenya)[18]
  • †Crocidura maghrebiana (Pleistocene of Morocco)[17]
  • †Crocidura marocana (Pleistocene of Morocco)[17]
  • †Crocidura tadjerensis (Pleistocene of Morocco)[17]
  • †Crocidura thomasi (Pleistocene of Morocco)[17]

A significant diversity of extinct Crocidura species is known from the early-mid Pleistocene of Morocco, but by the majority of these species went extinct between the Middle to Late Pleistocene boundary, and were replaced by modern species.[17] Indeterminate Crocidura remains are known from the Miocene-aged rocks in the Potwar Plateau of Pakistan, concurrent with fossils from the Shivalik Fossil Beds.[19]

Cultural significance

Crocidura shrews were embalmed in Ancient Egypt, being associated with the dark aspect of the god Horus. Many of these mummies have been uncovered during excavations at the Falcon Necropolis, providing important information about the former diversity of shrews in this area.[16]

References

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    Hutterer, R. (2005). "Genus Crocidura". In Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 224–255. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
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    Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M., eds. (2005). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
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    Jenkins, Paulina D.; Darrin P. Lunde & Clive B. Moncrieff (2009). "Descriptions of New Species of Crocidura (Soricomorpha: Soricidae) from Mainland Southeast Asia, with Synopses of Previously Described Species and Remarks on Biogeography" (PDF). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 331: 356–405. doi:10.1206/582-10.1. S2CID 84803490.
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    Palmer, T.S. Index generum mammalium : a list of the genera and families of mammals. p. 204.
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    "white-toothed shrew | mammal genus | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2022-02-20.
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    Rofes, Juan; Cuenca-Bescós, Gloria (2011-01-01). "Evolutionary history and biogeography of the genus Crocidura (Mammalia, Soricidae) in Europe, with emphasis on Crocidura kornfeldi". Mammalian Biology. 76 (1): 64–78. doi:10.1016/j.mambio.2009.12.001. ISSN 1616-5047.
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    Jacob A., Esselstyn; Anang S., Achmadi; Heru, Handika; Mark T., Swanson; Thomas C., Giarla; Kevin C., Rowe (2021-12-15). "Fourteen New, Endemic Species of Shrew (Genus Crocidura) from Sulawesi Reveal a Spectacular Island Radiation". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 454 (1): 1–108. doi:10.1206/0003-0090.454.1.1.
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    Meegaskumbura; et al. (2007-12-19). "Crocidura hikmiya, a new shrew (Mammalia: Soricomorpha: Soricidae) from Sri Lanka" (PDF). Zootaxa. 1665: 19–30. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.1665.1.2. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2007-12-19.
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    Lunde, D.P.; Musser, G.G. & Ziegler, T. (2004). "Description of a new species of Crocidura (Soricomorpha: Soricidae, Crocidurinae) from Ke Go Nature Reserve, Vietnam". Mammal Study. 29: 27–36. doi:10.3106/mammalstudy.29.27.
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    Kamalakannan, Manokaran; Sivaperuman, Chandrakasan; Kundu, Shantanu; Gokulakrishnan, Govindarasu; Venkatraman, Chinnadurai; Chandra, Kailash (2021-05-03). "Discovery of a new mammal species (Soricidae: Eulipotyphla) from Narcondam volcanic island, India". Scientific Reports. 11 (1): 9416. Bibcode:2021NatSR..11.9416K. doi:10.1038/s41598-021-88859-4. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 8093265. PMID 33941819.
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    Esselstyn, J.A.; Goodman, S.M. (2010). "New species of shrew (Soricidae: Crocidura) from Sibuyan Island, Philippines". Journal of Mammalogy. 91 (6): 1467–1472. doi:10.1644/10-MAMM-A-002.1.
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    Jenkins, P.; Abramov, A.; Bannikova, А.; Rozhnov, V. (2013). "Bones and genes: Resolution problems in three Vietnamese species of Crocidura (Mammalia, Soricomorpha, Soricidae) and the description of an additional new species". ZooKeys (313): 61–79. doi:10.3897/zookeys.313.4823. PMC 3701231. PMID 23840165.
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    Jenkins, P. D.; Abramov, A. V.; Rozhnov, V. V.; Makarova, O. V. (2007-09-19). "Description of two new species of white-toothed shrews belonging to the genus Crocidura (Soricomorpha: Soricidae) from Ngoc Linh Mountain, Vietnam" (PDF). Zootaxa. 1589: 57–68. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.1589.1.5.
  14. [14]
    Demos, T.C.; Achmadi, A.S.; Handika, H.; Maharadatunkamsi; Rowe, K.C.; Esselstyn, J.A. (2016). "A new species of shrew (Soricomorpha: Crocidura) from Java, Indonesia: possible character displacement despite interspecific gene flow". Journal of Mammalogy: gyw183. doi:10.1093/jmammal/gyw183.
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    Jenkins, P. D.; Abramov, A. V.; Rozhnov, V. V.; Makarova, O. V. (2007-09-19). "Description of two new species of white-toothed shrews belonging to the genus Crocidura (Soricomorpha: Soricidae) from Ngoc Linh Mountain, Vietnam" (PDF). Zootaxa. 1589: 57–68. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.1589.1.5.
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    Woodman, Neal; Ikram, Salima; Rowland, Joanne (2021-04-07). "A new addition to the embalmed fauna of ancient Egypt: Güldenstaedt's White-toothed Shrew, Crocidura gueldenstaedtii (Pallas, 1811) (Mammalia: Eulipotyphla: Soricidae)". PLOS ONE. 16 (4): e0249377. Bibcode:2021PLoSO..1649377W. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0249377. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 8026016. PMID 33826664.
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    Cornette, Raphaël; Stoetzel, Emmanuelle; Baylac, Michel; Moulin, Sibyle; Hutterer, Rainer; Nespoulet, Roland; El Hajraoui, Mohammed Abdeljalil; Denys, Christiane; Herrel, Anthony (2015-10-15). "Shrews of the genus Crocidura from El Harhoura 2 (Témara, Morocco): The contribution of broken specimens to the understanding of Late Pleistocene–Holocene palaeoenvironments in North Africa". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 436: 1–8. Bibcode:2015PPP...436....1C. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2015.06.020. ISSN 0031-0182.
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    Mein, Pierre; Pickford, Martin (2006). "Late Miocene micromammals from the Lukeino Formation (6.1 to 5.8 Ma), Kenya". Publications de la Société Linnéenne de Lyon. 75 (4): 183–223. doi:10.3406/linly.2006.13628.
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    Flynn, Jacobs, Kimura, Taylor & Tomida (March 2020). "SIWALIK FOSSIL SORICIDAE: A CALIBRATION POINT FOR THE MOLECULAR PHYLOGENY OF SUNCUS". Paludicola. 12 (4): 247–258.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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