393.

Blackish White-toothed Shrew

Crocidura nigricans

French: Crocidure noire / German: Schwarze Angola-WeiRzahnspitzmaus / Spanish: Musarana negruzca

Other common names: Blackish Shrew, Black White-toothed Shrew

Taxonomy. Crocidura nigricans Bocage, 1889,

Quindumbo, Benguela District, Angola.

Phylogenetic placement of C. nigricans is unknown, but it might be related to C. ercaor C. mariquensis . Monotypic.

Distribution. SW Angola.

Descriptive notes. Head-body 62-89 mm, tail 4663-5 mm, ear 4-9 mm, hindfoot 11-16 mm. No specific data are available for body weight. The Blackish Whitetoothed Shrew is medium-sized to relatively large. Dorsal pelage is blackish blue or slate-gray, and ventral pelage is paler. Tail is ¢.75% of head-body length, hairy, and dark. Talonid of M? lacks fovea. There are three unicuspids.

Habitat. Mountainous regions in Angola, but there is no information related to habitat preferences of the Blackish White-toothed Shrew.

Food and Feeding. No information.

Breeding. No information.

Activity patterns. No information.

Movements, Home range and Social organization. No information.

Status and Conservation. Classified as Least Concern on The IUCN Red List. Virtually nothing is known of the Blackish White-toothed Shrew, and its specific status has been

questioned throughoutits taxonomic history; additional research is needed. Despite few records, it does not seem to have any major threats and might have a much wider distribution than currently known.

Bibliography. Crawford-Cabral (1987), Hill & Carter (1941), Hutterer (2016).