Nimba shrew
| Nimba shrew | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Crocidura nimbae | ||||||||||||
| Heim de Balsac , 1956 |
The Nimba shrew ( Crocidura nimbae ) is a species of shrew from the genus of the white-toothed shrew ( Crocidura ). The species name refers to the Mont Nimba in southeastern Guinea .
features
The Nimba shrew is a medium-sized shrew that reaches a head-to-trunk length of 75 to 90 mm. The tail length is 50 to 57 mm, the hind foot length 16 to 17 mm. The length of the ears is not known. The weight is 8 to 19 g. The skull length reaches 25.5 to 26.5 mm and the skull width 10 mm. The total length of the upper row of teeth from the first incisor to the third molar is 12 mm. The short, thick fur has a silky sheen. The fur hair is approx. 3 mm long. The back fur is dark brownish-gray to gray with isolated speckles. The hair is dark gray at the base and turns brown towards the tip. A few hairs have light ends. The peritoneum is slightly lighter and grayer than the back fur. The hair on the lower half is gray, on the upper half it is brownish-gray. Sometimes the ends of the hair are white. The eye-catching ears are not covered by the fur. The flank gland is visible as a small oval patch on the hairless skin. The fore and hind feet are flesh colored with occasional short brown hair on the top and whitish hair on the toes. The relatively short tail makes up about 40 percent of the head-trunk length. It is two-colored, dark brownish-gray on the top, lighter on the underside and covered with fur up to approx. 70 percent. The first incisor is long and hook-shaped. The third molar is narrow to medium-sized. The karyotype and the number of teats are unknown.
Distribution area
The distribution area extends from Sierra Leone , southeastern Guinea , through Liberia to the western Ivory Coast .
habitat
The Nimba shrew inhabits rainforests in the low mountain ranges and in the lowlands. Often swampy areas are preferred. Furthermore, the Nimba shrew was observed in cocoa-coffee plantations, in secondary forests, primary forests, in old and young forest plantations and in fields. The species evidently avoids old fallow land .
Eating behavior
The Nimba shrew is predominantly an insect eater . Occasionally other invertebrates enrich the food supply. In a study published in 2004 in Taï National Park in Ivory Coast, the researchers identified nine groups of invertebrates that make up the Nimba shrew's diet: ants (53 percent), adult beetles (41 percent), spiders (29 percent ), Bipeds (18 percent), woodlice (17 percent), cockroaches (12 percent) as well as bed bugs , termites and terrors (each with 6 percent).
literature
- Rainer Hutterer : Nimba shrew. In: Jonathan Kingdon, Thomas M. Butynski, David CD Happold, Meredith Happold (Eds.): Mammals of Africa. Volume 4: Hedgehogs, shrews and bats. Bloomsbury, London et al. 2013, ISBN 978-1-4081-2254-9 , pp. 115-116.
Web links
- Crocidura nimbae in the Red List of Threatened Species of the IUCN 2012. Posted by: Rainer Hutterer, 2008. Accessed August 7, 2013.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Sara Churchfield, Patrick Barrière, Rainer Hutterer, Marc Colyn: First results on the feeding ecology of sympatric shrews (Insectivora: Soricidae) in the Tai National Park, Ivory Coast. In: Acta Theriologica. Vol. 49, No. 1, 2004, ISSN 0001-7051 , pp. 1-15, doi : 10.1007 / BF03192504 .