Crocidura phuquocensis Abramov, Jenkins, Rozhnov et Kalinin, 2008

Abramov, Alexei V., Bannikova, Anna A. & Rozhnov, Viatcheslav V., 2012, White-toothed shrews (Mammalia, Soricomorpha, Crocidura) of coastal islands of Vietnam, ZooKeys 207, pp. 37-47 : 41

Crocidura phuquocensis Abramov, Jenkins, Rozhnov et Kalinin, 2008

Five adult white-toothed shrews were collected in the northern part of Phu Quoc Island (10°22'53"N, 104°00'19"E), 5 km west of Bai Thom Village, near the road Duong Dong-Bai Thom, close to the northern slope of Mount Chua area, at the elevation of about 30 m asl. Pitfall traps were set up in the dipterocarp forest, near tumbled down trees, at the bottom of a mountain. On the basis on these specimens, Crocidura phuquocensis was described by Abramov et al. (2008).

This is a medium-sized Crocidura , with a moderately long tail; tail 75% of head and body length, on average. Means and extremes of measurements (in mm) from 5 adults are: head and body length, 76.2 (68-72); tail length, 52.4 (49-59); hind foot length, 12.1 (12-12.5).

The validity of this species was recently confirmed by comparison of cytb and COI sequences with available reference data ( Bannikova et al. 2011). On the cytb tree, the Crocidura phuquocensis haplogroup is the nearest neighbour to the Crocidura fuliginosa - Crocidura dracula group, although with low bootstrap support (Fig. 2).

Phu Quoc lies very close to mainland Cambodia. The Phu Quoc rainforests belong to the Cardamom Mountain rain forests ecoregion ( MacKinnon 1997). Overall, the small mammal fauna of Phu Quoc is similar to that of the Cardamom Mountains ( Swan and Kry 2000; Abramov et al. 2007a). Presumably, Crocidura phuquocensis (currently known from Phu Quoc only) may also be found in the adjacent mainland.