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Radde’s Shrew

Sorex raddei

French: Musaraigne de Radde / German: Radde-Spitzmaus / Spanish: Musarafa de Radde

Taxonomy. Sorex raddei Satunin, 1895,

near Kutaisi, Georgia.

Sorex raddei is a relict species. Sorex roboratus, another relict species, is most closely related to S. raddei based on mtDNA. Because of their distinct placement within Sorex, both S. raddei and S. roboratus are included in the S. raddei group here. Monotypic.

Distribution. S European Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, and NE Turkey.

Descriptive notes. Head-body 70-80 mm (immatures 57-70 mm), tail 43-54 mm; weight 9-2-13 g (immatures 6-7-8 g). Tail is up to 70-75% of head-body length, unicolored, and dark on all sides. Pelage is unicolored. In juveniles, back and sides are brown, and belly is slightly lighter. In adults, pelage is darker, and brown tints are weaker. Chromosomal complement has 2n = 36 and FN = 68, with 16 pairs of metacentric and submetacentric autosomes and one pair of acrocentric autosomes. X-chromosome and Y-chromosome are acrocentric.

Habitat. Prefers wet forests with creeks or small rivers and outcrops and typically mountain broad-leaved, especially beech, forests at elevations of 450-2400 m. Radde’s Shrew also lives in coniferous—broad-leaved forests and is less often found in birch forests of the subalpine belt and meadows at upper forest boundaries. It rarely occurs in houses and is never found in dry foothills and plains, xeromorphic oak forests, and bushes.

Food and Feeding. Beetles were most often found in gastric contents of Radde’s Shrews; earthworms and seeds of various trees are also common.

Breeding. Pregnant Radde’s Shrews can usually be found in mid-April, and breeding ends in early October. A pregnant female usually has 2-8 embryos (average five). Female young-of-the-year relatively rarely reproduce. Winter reproduction was observed near the Black Sea coast.

Activity patterns. Activity peaks of Radde’s Shrews are at night and twilight, but individuals are occasionally active in morning and daytime.

Movements, Home range and Social organization. No information.

Status and Conservation. Classified as Least Concern on The IUCN Red List. Radde’s Shrew often dominates shrew communities in mountain broad-leaved forests. Nevertheless,it is relatively rare at the northern border of its distribution and in localities with substantial damage to primary mountain forests. It is consequently on the Red List in Georgia and Karachay-Cherkessia, Russia.

Bibliography. Dolgov (1985), Krystufek & Vohralik (2001), Sokolov & Tembotov (1989), Strokov (1957), Zaitsev et al. (2014), Zima et al. (1998).