ERINACEOMORPHA, Gregory, 1910

Pearch, Malcolm J., 2011, A review of the biological diversity and distribution of small mammal taxa in the terrestrial ecoregions and protected areas of Nepal 3072, Zootaxa 3072 (1), pp. 1-286 : 78-79

ORDER ERINACEOMORPHA (formerly part of INSECTIVORA )

FAMILY ERINACEIDAE

* Hemiechinus collaris ( Gray, 1830)

Indian Long-eared hedgehog

Erinaceus collaris Gray 1830 (in 1830–1835): 1; pl. 8. Doab [ India]. [Restricted to "between Jumna and Ganges Rivers" pursuant to Wroughton, 1910: 81)].

Erinaceus spatangus Bennett, 1832: 123 . Himalayan Mountains.

Erineceus grayi Bennett, 1832 , 124. Himalayan Mountains.

Records.—see note.

Non-specific records.— Hinton & Fry (1923): "the central region of Nepal ".— Hodgson (1842) (as Erinaceus collaris , E. grayii , and E. spatangus ): "central hilly region" (of Nepal).

Note.— Hinton & Fry (1923) comment as follows: "Hodgson (1841) [= 1842] records three species of " Erinaceus ," viz.:-" spatangus ," " collaris " and " grayii ," as inhabiting the central region of Nepal; " spatangus " and " grayii " are, of course, synonyms of collaris .

"There is no material in the Hodgson collection and as far as we are aware this is the only reference which exists concerning the occurrence of a hedgehog in Nepal."

Hutterer (2005a) includes grayi ( Bennett, 1832) and spatangus ( Bennett, 1832) in the synonymy of collaris but limits the distribution of that species to " Pakistan and N. W. India ". For this reason, and on account of there not being any tangible specimens of Erinaceidae from Nepal, the species (and the Family) cannot be included in a list of that country’s known fauna. Some confusion remains, however, about the identity of the three taxa recorded by Hodgson, who was an observant and diligent naturalist, although he had stated earlier that "there are no hedgehogs in Nepal " ( Hodgson, 1832: 340).

I.U.C.N. status.—Least concern (ver. 3.1, 2001)

Year of assessment: 2008.