299.

Flower’s White-toothed Shrew

Crocidura floweri

French: Crocidure de Flower / German: FlowerWeil 3zahnspitzmaus / Spanish: Musarana de Flower

Other common names: Flower's Shrew

Taxonomy. Crocidura floweri Dollman, 1915,

“ Giza, Egypt.”

Morphology seems to align C. floweri with C. arabica and C. crossei, although genetic studies have yet to prove this. Monotypic.

Distribution. Nile Delta, NW Egypt. Ancient mummified remains have been identified in Thebes, SE Egypt.

Descriptive notes. Head-body 57-71 mm, tail 55-58 mm, ear 8 mm, hindfoot 12-13-5 mm. No specific data are available for

body weight. Flower’s White-toothed Shrew is small. Dorsal pelage is pale cinnamonbrown, and ventral pelage is paler cinnamon-brown to whitish; hairs are gray at bases and white at tips. Feet are dirty white. Tail is 75-100% of head-body length, being cinnamon-brown above whitish below, with long bicolored bristle hairs throughout. Second and third unicuspids are subequal in size, and M” is moderately broad. Talonid basin is present on M,, and molars have a metaloph and metaconule. There are three unicuspids.

Habitat. Human-made habitats in the Nile Valley and agricultural fields (based on limited information).

Food and Feeding. No information.

Breeding. No information.

Activity patterns. No information.

Movements, Home range and Social organization. No information.

Status and Conservation. Classified as Data Deficient on The IUCN Red List. Virtually nothing is known of Flower’s White-toothed Shrew, but it has a very small distribution and might be threatened by habitat degradation and urban/agricultural expansion. It seems to be well adapted to living near and around humans because it is found in agricultural fields and was mummified by ancient Egyptians, which signified some cultural significance. Its ancient occurrence in Thebes indicates that it might have had a much wider distribution, and additional sampling might find that it is still present there. It was reported as possibly extinct in 1962, but owl pellets with bones of Flower’s White-toothed Shrew were found in the 1980s.

Bibliography. Jenkins & Churchfield (2013a), Kennerley & Saleh (2017), Osborn & Helmy (1980).