Crocidura wimmeri Heim de Balsac & Aellen 1958

382.

Wimmer’s White-toothed Shrew

Crocidura wimmenr

French: Crocidure de Wimmer / German: WimmerWeil3zahnspitzmaus / Spanish: Musarana de Wimmer

Other common names: \Wimmer's Shrew

Taxonomy. Crocidura wimmeri Heim de Balsac & Aellen, 1958,

Adiopodoumé, southern Cote d'Ivoire.

Crocidura wimmeri is sister to a clade in- cluding C. buettikoferi, C. theresae, and C. grandiceps within a larger clade including C. mariquensis, C. silacea, C. hildegardeae, C. batesi, and C. foxi. Monotypic.

Distribution. Known only from type locality and Banco National Park, SW Ivory Coast.

Descriptive notes. Head-body 80-90 mm, tail 57 mm, hindfoot 17 mm; weight 22 28 g. Wimmer’s White-toothed Shrew is relatively large. Dorsum is dark ash-gray to brown, and ventral pelage is paler. Tail is ¢.75% of head-body length, dark, and not densely haired. Skull is elongated; facial region is well developed; and maxillary region is broad. There are three unicuspids. Chromosomal complement has 2n = 50 and FN = 84.

Habitat. Swampy wet forest near the coast.

Food and Feeding. Energy consumption of a captive Wimmer’s White-toothed Shrew, weighing 23-5 g, was 1-9 kg/g/h.

Breeding. No information.

Activity patterns. Wimmer’s White-toothed Shrew is nocturnal. In captivity, average activity was 340 min/24 hours. During the night, activity was 6-45 min/h, and during the day, it was 0—4 min/h.

Movements, Home range and Social organization. Wimmer’s White-toothed Shrews have very distinctive defense calls, which last an average of 217 milliseconds, with frequencies of 11-7-15 kHz.

Status and Conservation. Classified as Critically Endangered on The IUCN Red List. Wimmer’s White-toothed Shrew has a very localized and small distribution and is considered rare. It occurs in Banco National Park, but it might have been extirpated at the type locality because just about all suitable habitat in that area has been destroyed. Conversion of land to agricultural use is its largest threat.

Bibliography. Brosset (1988), Churchfield & Jenkins (2013k), Heim de Balsac & Aellen (1958), Hutterer & Vogel (1977), Kadjo et al. (2013), Kennerley (20160), Nicoll & Rathbun (1990), Vogel, Genoud & Frey (1981), Vogel, Vogel etal. (2013).