Christmas Island Shrew

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Christmas Island Shrew
Systematics
Superordinate : Laurasiatheria
Order : Insect eater (Eulipotyphla)
Family : Shrews (Soricidae)
Subfamily : Crocidurinae
Genre : White-toothed shrews ( Crocidura )
Type : Christmas Island Shrew
Scientific name
Crocidura trichura
Dobson , 1889

The Christmas Island shrew ( Crocidura trichura ) is a presumably extinct shrew from the genus of the white-toothed shrew . It occurred on Christmas Island .

features

The Christmas Island shrew reached a head-torso length of 65 to 82 mm, a tail length of 63 to 75 mm, a hind foot length of 13 to 17 mm and a weight of 4.5 to 6.0 grams. The thickly hairy fur was light or reddish brown to dark gray.

Way of life

The Christmas Island shrew was a rainforest inhabitant. It lived in holes in the rock or under tree roots and mainly fed on beetles. During the night there was a high-pitched, squeaky call that could be heard from afar.

Existence and endangerment

When discovered in the 1880s, the Christmas Island shrew was described as common and widespread. However, this changed when the forests on Christmas Island were cleared at the end of the 19th century. House rats came to the island with the settlers and brought in the trypanosome pathogen. The trypanosomes are believed to be the main cause of the extinction of the Maclear rat and the Christmas Island rat , and the Christmas Island shrew was also believed to be extinct from 1908. Apart from an unconfirmed sighting in 1958, it was rediscovered in 1985. Two specimens were caught, but they perished a short time later. There are said to have been several unconfirmed sightings between 1996 and 1998. During intensive search expeditions in 2000, however, no more specimens could be found. The recent disappearance of this shrew could be related to the spread of the yellow spider ant ( Anoplolepis gracilipes ), which is a deadly threat to many animal species on Christmas Island. The IUCN classifies the species as “ critically endangered (possibly extinct)” .

Systematics

The Christmas Island shrew was at times considered a subspecies of the eyelash shrew ( Crocidura attenuata ) or the Southeast Asian shrew ( Crocidura fuliginosa ). Morphological differences between the taxa and the large distances between the distribution areas suggest, however, that the species is independent.

literature

  • Francis Harper: Extinct and Vanishing Mammals of the Old World (= American Committee for International Wild Life Protection. Special Publication. Vol. 12, ZDB -ID 971409-1 ). American Committee for International Wild Life Protection, New York NY 1945.
  • Paulina D. Jenkins : Variation in Eurasian shrews of the genus Crocidura (Insectivora: Sodicidae). Bulletin of the British Museum of Natural History 30, 1976, pp. 271-309.
  • David Day: The Doomsday Book of Animals. A Natural History of Vanished Species. Viking Press, New York NY 1981, ISBN 0-670-27987-0 .
  • Manuel Ruedi : Taxonomic revision of shrews of the genus Crocidura from the Sunda Shelf and Sulawesi with description of two new species (Mammalia: Soricidae). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 115, 1995, pp. 211-265.
  • Michael Schulz: National Recovery Plan for the Christmas Island Shrew (Crocidura attenuata trichura). Department of the Environment and Heritage, Canberra 2004, full text (PDF; 401 KB) .
  • Rainer Hutterer : Order Soricomorpha. In: Don E. Wilson , DeeAnn M. Reeder (Eds.): Mammal Species of the World. A taxonomic and geographic Reference. Volume 1. 3rd edition. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD 2005, ISBN 0-8018-8221-4 , pp. 220-311.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Rainer Hutterer: Order Soricomorpha. In: Don E. Wilson, DeeAnn M. Reeder (Eds.): Mammal Species of the World. A taxonomic and geographic Reference. Volume 1. 3rd edition. 2005, pp. 220-311.
  2. ^ Francis Harper: Extinct and Vanishing Mammals of the Old World. 1945.
  3. ↑ Michael Schulz: National Recovery Plan for the Christmas Island Shrew (Crocidura attenuata trichura). 2004.

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