372.

Bates’s White-toothed Shrew

Crocidura batesi

French: Crocidure de Bates / German: Bates-\ Weil3zahnspitzmaus / Spanish: Musarana de Bates

Other common names: Bates's Shrew

Taxonomy. Crocidura batesi Dollman, 1915,

“ Como River, Gabon.”

Crocidura batesi seems to be basal to a clade including C. foxi, C. buettikoferi, C. theresae, C. grandiceps, and C. wimmeri but also in- cludes C. cyanea, C. mariquensis, C. silacea, and C. hildegardeae, which are more basal within this large clade. This clade is sister to a clade including C. crenata, C. fuscomunna, C. crossei, C. jouvenetae, and C. lusitania . There is considerable confusion

between taxonomic status of populations generally attributed to C. batesi and C. poensis . Traditionally recognized distributions of C. batesi and C. poensis are used here, although they might be conspecific or a species complex; a thorough investigation is needed to fully resolve this clade. Monotypic.

Distribution. S Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea (Mbini), Gabon, extreme SW Central African Republic, and W Republic of the Congo; apparently also in SW DR Congo and N Zambia, although identity of these specimens is problematic.

Descriptive notes. Head—body 72-88 mm, tail 52-60 mm, ear 11-12 mm, hindfoot 14-15 mm; weight 9-1-15-5 g. Bates’s White-toothed Shrew is medium-sized. Dorsal pelage is dark chocolate-brown (individual hairs are grayish brown basally and chocolate-brown tipped), and ventral pelageis similarto orslightly paler than dorsal pelage. Feet are brownish. Tail is ¢.60-75% of head-body length, hairy, and bicolored, being brown above and paler below. There are three unicuspids. Chromosomal complement has 2n = 50 and FN = 76.

Habitat. Lowland rainforest from near sea level to elevations of ¢.625 m.

Food and Feeding. No information.

Breeding. A pregnant Bates’s White-toothed Shrew with two embryos was captured in February.

Activity patterns. No information.

Movements, Home range and Social organization. No information.

Status and Conservation. Classified as Least Concern on The IUCN Red List. Bates’s White-toothed Shrew is considered uncommon or rare throughout much ofits distribution, although it has a wide distribution and does not seem to face any major threats.

Bibliography. Barriere et al. (2005), Brosset (1988), Ceriaco et al. (2015), Goodman & Hutterer (2004), Hutterer (2016d), Jacquet (2012), Ray & Hutterer (2013a), Schlitter et al. (1999), Vogel et al. (2013).