350.

Tanzanian White-toothed Shrew

Crocidura tansaniana

French: Crocidure de Tanzanie / German: Tansania-WeiRRzahnspitzmaus / Spanish: Musarafa de Tanzania

Other common names: Tanzanian Shrew

Taxonomy. Crocidura tansaniana Hutterer, 1986,

Amani (05-06°S, 38-38°E), East Usambara Mountains, Tanga Region, Tanzania.

Crocidura tansaniana is sister to C. usambarae, which are togethersister to a clade including C. monax and C. newmarki in the C. monax clade. Monotypic.

Distribution. West and East Usambara Mts in NE Tanzania.

Descriptive notes. Head-body 80-110 mm, tail 58-76 mm, ear 8-14 mm, hindfoot 15-19 mm; weight 9-5-20 g. The Tanzanian White-toothed Shrew is large. Dorsal and ventral pelageis rich brown, with long hair; individual hairs are brownish gray, with reddish brown tips. Feet are slightly paler than dorsum and covered with short brown hairs. Tail is 70-71% of head-body length, relatively hairy, covered with numerous longer bristle hairs along basal 24-48% of its length, and rich brown. Cranium is long and stout, with wide maxillary, broad interorbital region, and wide angular braincase. Dorsal profile of skull is relatively flat, with slight angle between braincase and rostrum; lambdoidal crest is well developed. [' is curved, forming a long hook; upper unicuspids are wide and have broad cingula. There are three unicuspids.

Habitat. Submontane rainforest. The Tanzanian White-toothed Shrew occurs in primary forests and forests where logging has occurred in the past, indicating thatit is resilient in logged areas.

Food and Feeding. No information.

Breeding. Pregnant Tanzanian White-toothed Shrews with two embryos have been reported in July-September.

Activity patterns. Tanzanian White-toothed Shrews are nocturnal.

Movements, Home range and Social organization. No information.

Status and Conservation. Classified as Endangered on The IUCN Red List. The Tanzanian White-toothed Shrew has a very restricted distribution, but it is the most abundant shrew where it occurs in undisturbed forests in the East Usambara Mountains. Its habitat is severely fragmented from logging, but it can tolerate some selective logging, as evident by records in logged areas.

Bibliography. Hutterer (1986¢), Kennerley (2016), Stanley (2013e), Stanley, Goodman & Hutterer (2011), Stanley, Hutterer et al. (2015), Stanley, Kihaule et al. (1998).