Chinese white-toothed shrew
Crocidura rapax is a shrew from the kind of white tooth shrew ( Crocidura ). It occurs in southern China as well as in the adjacent north-eastern India and the island of Taiwan and other islands.
Features
With a head-body length of 5.6 to 7 centimeters Crocidura rapax is one of the medium sized shrews of Eurasia. The tail reaches a length of 38-47 millimeters. The hind foot has a length 11 to 13 mm. In its appearance it corresponds to the kind Crocidura vorax, the coat on his back, however, is much darker brown and the belly is almost as dark, but gray-brown. The tail is dark brown solid color over the entire length; he has longer hair feeling only in the basal third.
The skull has a base length of 17.4 to 18.3 millimeters. Like all species of the genus has the kind in the maxilla per half an incisor ( incisor ) and then three unicuspid teeth, one premolar and three molars. In the mandible, it has, however, a single canine ( canine ) behind the incisor. Overall, the animals thus have a set of teeth from 28 teeth. The roots are not pigmented white, as in all tooth shrews in contrast to those of the Rotzahnspitzmäuse.
Dissemination
Crocidura rapax occurs in southern China as well as in the adjacent north-eastern India and the island of Taiwan and other islands. In Taiwan survived the subspecies Crocidura rapax kurodai while Crocidura rapax rapax occurs in southern China including Hainan Island and the indischern part of the range. Crocidura rapax lutaoensis can be found on the island of Dau Lu ( Green Island ) and Crocidura rapax tadae occurs on Lan Yu ( Orchid Island ).
Way of life
The life of Crocidura rapax is largely unexplored as with many shrews, here are virtually no data. Like all shrews feed on this species of invertebrates, especially insects and worms.
System
Crocidura rapax is classified as a separate species within the genus of white tooth shrew ( Crocidura ), which consists of about 170 species. The first scientific description comes from G. Allen from 1923, which described an individual from the Mekong River from Yunnan Province in the south of the People's Republic of China. It was formerly in common with other species such as Crocidura vorax in the species Crocidura gueldenstaedtii, Crocidura russula or Crocidura pullata classified, Crocidura kurodai however, was spun off from this in 1997 and 2001. 2002 Crocidura kurodai was summarized together with formerly grouped under Crocidura horsfieldii island shapes on Taiwan and several neighboring islands due to matching karyologischer data on the type Crocidura rapax, due to various differences in phenotype but are regarded as subspecies.
Within the species today in addition to the nominate form Crocidura rapax rapax with Crocidura rapax kurodai, Crocidura rapax lutaoensis, Crocidura rapax tadae three other subspecies are distinguished.
Threat and protection
Crocidura rapax is from the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN ) due to lack of data on population size, environmental claims and threats are not in a risk category, but instead, without sufficient data ( data deficient ) classified.