349.

Munissi’s White-toothed Shrew

Crocidura munissi

French: Crocidure de Munissi / German: Munissi-Weil 3zahnspitzmaus / Spanish: Musarana de Munissi

Other common names: Munissi's Shrew

Taxonomy. Crocidura munissii Stanley et al., 2015,

“ Tanzania, Morogoro Region, Morogoro District, Uluguru Mts, Uluguru North Forest Reserve, 5- 1 km W, 2-3 km N Tegetero, 6-92°S, 37-6833°E, 1535 m.”

Crocidura munissii is in the C. monax clade. It was previously included in C. monax until it was described as a distinct species along with C. mdumai, to which it is a sister species phylogenetically. Monotypic.

Distribution. S Eastern Arc Mts in EC Tanzania (Ukaguru, Uluguru, Rubeho, and Udzungwa Mts).

Descriptive notes. Head-body 75-106 mm, tail 66-95 mm, ear 9-13 mm, hindfoot 15-19 mm; weight 9-5-19-5 g. Munissi’s White-toothed Shrew is large, with distinctively slender feet compared with other species in the C. monax clade. Dorsal and ventral pelage is rich brown, and hair is relatively long. Feet are slightly paler. Ears are brown and short. Tail is ¢.91% of head-body length, relatively hairy, covered with a

few longer bristle hairs near its base, and uniformly rich brown. Braincase is long and has pronounced anterior facets. Skull is large, and I' is long hook-like. There are three unicuspids.

Habitat. Submontane and montane forests at elevations above 1450 m. Munissi’s White-toothed Shrew is not found in lower and drier forests.

Food and Feeding. No information.

Breeding. No information.

Activity patterns. No information.

Movements, Home range and Social organization. No information.

Status and Conservation. Not assessed on The IUCN Red List. Munissi’s White-toothed Shrew was considered conspecific with the Kilimanjaro White-toothed Shrew ( C. monax), which was classified as Data Deficient. It has a very restricted distribution and might be threatened by agricultural expansion and other forms of habitat destruction.

Bibliography. Stanley & Hutterer (2007), Stanley et al. (2015).