Crocidura fuscomurina

(Heuglin, 1865)

Bicolored Musk Shrew

Figure 1. FMNH 17719. Photograph by R. Banasiak.

Type Description:

Leopoldiana, 5, in Nouv. Acta Acad. Caes. Leop.-Carol., 32:36.

Type Locality:

Sudan, Bahr-el-Ghazal, Meshra-el-Req.

Measurements:

Head and body: 50-60 mm

Tail length: 35-45 mm

Weight: 3-10 g

Description:

This is one of Tanzania's smallest shrews (hindfoot 12 mm or less), which is distinctly bicoloured, in that the ventral pelage is ashy grey and distinctly lighter than the dorsal pelage. The ears are prominent. The skull has the following characteristics: maximum breadth of maxilla > 5.20 mm; width of M2 > 1.8 mm; Interorbital breadth > 3.8 mm; first unicuspid and incisors quite large compared to posterior unicuspids; anterior face of tooth posterior to the most posterior unicuspid concave, not flat.

Comparisons:

Compare to this species to another small shrew, C. elgonius, which is not as distinctly bicolored, and with a skull with maximum breadth of maxilla < 5.20 mm; width of M2 < 1.7 mm; Interorbital breadth < 3.7 mm; first unicuspid and incisors not so large when compared to posterior unicuspids; anterior face of tooth posterior to the most posterior unicuspid flat, not concave.

Distribution:

Crocidura fuscomurina is widely distributed throughout East Africa. This shrew can be found in all vegetation types and at all altitudes. (Kingdon, 1997) (Wilson and Reeder, 2005) Within Tanzania, this species has been recorded in Serengeti, East Usambara and Udzungwa Mountains, near Lindi and on Unguja.

Figure 2.

Ecological Notes:

Not commonly noted in montane forests, this species has been collected in drier forests in the lower slopes of Udzungwa Scarp Forest Reserve, and in forests of the East Usambaras containing invasive Maesopsis trees.

Key Reference:

1. Kingdon, J. 1984. East African mammals: An atlas of evolution in Africa. (Insectivores and Bats). University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2A:95-109.
2. Kingdon, J. 1997. The Kingdon field guide to African mammals, AP Natural World Academic Press, Harcourt Brace & Company, San Diego, p. 145-146.
3. Nowak, R. M. 1999. Walker's Mammals of the World. Sixth ed. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1:202-203, 218-222.
4. Swynnerton, G. H., and R. W. Hayman. 1951. A checklist of the land mammals of the Tanganyika Territory and the Zanzibar Protectorate. Journal of the East African Natural History Society, 20(6):274-392.
5. Wilson, D. E., and D. M. Reeder (eds.). 2005. Mammal species of the world, a taxonomic and geographic reference, Third ed. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1:232.