Hainan Island shrew

Crocidura wuchihensis is a shrew from the kind of white tooth shrew ( Crocidura ). She is probably endemic to the Chinese island of Hainan before, but possibly also in other parts of Southeast Asia.

Features

With a head -body length of 5.5 to 6.5 centimeters and a weight of 3.5 to 6 grams Crocidura wuchihensis one of the smaller shrews in Asia, which is slightly smaller than the occurring in Southeast Asia Crocidura indochinensis. The tail reaches a length from 35 to 42 millimeters. The hind foot has a length of 10 to 13 and the ear 6-9 millimeters. The back fur is dark brown gray, the individual hairs are gray iron and near the tips of brown at the base and sometimes have a silver-gray top. The belly is slightly grayer and the tops of the feet are whitish with brown pigmentation to the side. The tail is brown with long bristles on the upper side. From Crocidura indochinensis they can be reliably differentiated only by the proportions of the skull and especially the slightly narrower braincase.

The skull has a total length of 15 to 17 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 wuchihensis is probably endemic to the People's Republic of China belonging to Hainan Island, but more of the kind associated animals have been found in northern Vietnam. However, these animals could also be a new, as yet undescribed species are assigned. The altitudinal distribution ranges from 1300 to 1500 meters.

Way of life

The life of Crocidura wuchinensis is largely unexplored as with many shrews. It occurs mainly in forests and how all shrews also feeds on this type of invertebrates, especially insects. About the reproduction is not known.

System

Crocidura wuchihensis 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 Wang in 1966, the type locality of Mt Wuchih on the Chinese island of Hainan represents. This species was temporarily assigned together with Crocidura indochinensis of living in Sri Lanka and India C. horsfieldii, both are now, however, as a distinct species. However, in the north of Vietnam and found the type associated with animals could be assigned to a new, yet undescribed species.

Within the species today are in addition to the nominate Crocidura wuchihensis wuchihensis no further sub- types differed.

Threat and protection

Crocidura wuchihensis is not classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN ) due to the lack of data on the taxonomy, inventory and a threat to a category of threat and instead " without sufficient data " ( data deficient ) out. Stock -threatening hazards are not known, but should be dependent on the kind undisturbed forests, habitat changes through deforestation and transformations in human settlement areas and agricultural land to a potential threat.