318.

Greenwood’s White-toothed Shrew

Crocidura greenwoodae

French: Crocidure de Greenwood / German: Greenwood-WeiRzahnspitzmaus / Spanish: Musarana de Greenwood

Other common names: Greenwood’s Shrew

Taxonomy. Crocidura greenwoodi [sic] Heim de Balsa, 1966,

Gelib, Somalia.

Widely used species name greenwood: has been changed as the species was named after Mrs. [Marjorie] Greenwood and according to the article 31.1.2 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature the ending “ae” is mandatory for a name honoring a woman. Seems to be closely related to C. fulvastra and C. hirta, based on their same karyotype, although

detailed molecular studies are needed. Monotypic.

Distribution. Recorded only from two localities in S Somalia.

Descriptive notes. Head-body 71 mm, tail 51 mm, hindfoot 13 mm (one specimen). No specific data are available for body weight. Greenwood’s White-toothed Shrew is a medium-sized shrew. Dorsal pelage is gray, tinged with brown, and ventrum is whitish with basally gray hairs. Feet are grayish. Tail is long (c.72% of head-body length), thick, grayish, and covered in long bristle hairs. Braincase is broad and flattened; the second and third unicuspids are subequal in size; M? is medium in size; talonid of M, with a talonid basin and small or absent entoconid. There are three unicuspids. Chromosomal complement is 2n = 50, FN = 66.

Habitat. Recorded from gallery forest, savanna, arid bush, and cultivated land.

Food and Feeding. No information.

Breeding. No information.

Activity patterns. Greenwood’s White-toothed Shrews are terrestrial.

Movements, Home range and Social organization. No information.

Status and Conservation. Classified as Least Concern on The IUCN Red List. Greenwood’s White-toothed Shrew is apparently locally common but known from few specimens with no identified major threats, although Somalia is a very unstable country, which limits the knowledge available for this species.

Bibliography. Heim de Balsac & Meester (1977), Hutterer (2016b), Jenkins & Churchfield (2013d), Schlitter et al. (1999).