405.

Tarella White-toothed Shrew

Crocidura tarella

French: Crocidure de Rutshuru / German: Tarella-WeiRzahnspitzmaus / Spanish: Musarana de Tarella

Other common names: Tarella Shrew, Ugandan Shrew

Taxonomy. Crocidura turba tarella Dollman, 1915,

Chaya, near Ruchuru, Congo Belge (= near Rutshuru, DR Congo).

Crocidura tarella has been regarded as a subspecies of C. turba but now is generally regarded as a full species, although its relationship to other species of Crocidura is uncertain. Monotypic.

Distribution. SC & SW Uganda, EC DR Congo, and NW Rwanda.

Descriptive notes. Head-body 91 mm,tail

57 mm, ear 9-5 mm, hindfoot 17 mm. No specific data are available for body weight. The Tarella White-toothed Shrew is relatively large. Dorsum is dark reddish brown, and venter is gray, with reddish brown wash and silvery sheen. Feet are dark reddish brown. Tail is ¢.63% of head-body length, hairy, and bicolored, being blackish brown above and paler below. Skull has wide interorbital region, maxillary region is wide, braincase is narrow, unicuspids are broad, M? is moderately broad, and talonid of M, has an entoconid and talonid basin. There are three unicuspids.

Habitat. Tropical moist forests at mid-elevations.

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 Endangered on The IUCN Red List. The Tarella White-toothed Shrew has a very limited distribution, and it is mainly threatened by logging operations causing habitat destruction and fragmentation. It occurs in Bwindi Forest Impenetrable National Park in Uganda.

Bibliography. Dippenaar (1980b), Jenkins & Churchfield (2013e), Kasangaki et al. (2003), Kennerley (2016t), Tuyisingize et al. (2013).