Crocidura cyanea Duvernoy 1838

Crocidura cyanea Duvernoy 1838, Mem. Soc. Hist. Nat. Strasbourg, 2: 2.

Type Locality: "La riviere des Elephants, au sud de l'Afrique" = Citrusdal, South Africa fide Shortridge (1942:27) .

Vernacular Names: Reddish-gray Musk Shrew.

Synonyms: Crocidura argentatus Sundevall in Grill 1860; Crocidura capensis (Smuts 1832); Crocidura capensoides (A. Smith 1833); Crocidura concolor (A. Smith 1836); Crocidura electa Dollman 1910; Crocidura infumata (Wagner 1841); Crocidura martensii Dobson 1890; Crocidura pondoensis Roberts 1913; Crocidura vryburgensis Roberts 1946 .

Distribution: South Africa, Namibia, Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe; records further north uncertain.

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: The species concept applied by Heim de Balsac and Meester (1977) included a number of names which evidently do not belong to cyanea but to species such as parvipes and smithii; see Hutterer (1986 a) and Hutterer and Joger (1982). The limits of distribution of cyanea have not yet been established; Meester et al. (1986) distinguished cyanea and infumata as subspecies in South Africa. The taxon erica which has been included in cyanea may be related to hirta .