Yankari shrew
| Yankari shrew | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Crocidura yankariensis | ||||||||||||
| Hutterer & Jenkins , 1980 |
The Yankari shrew ( Crocidura yankariensis ) is an African shrew from the genus of the white-toothed shrew ( Crocidura ). The species name refers to the Yankari National Park in northeast Nigeria , where the Hungarian zoologist Andres Demeter found the holotype in 1978.
features
The Yankari shrew reaches a total length of 52 to 66 mm, a tail length of 35 to 41 mm, a hind foot length of 9 to 10 mm, an ear length of 6 to 8 mm, a skull length of 18.4 to 19.5 mm and a Skull width from 8.2 to 8.5 mm. The total length of the upper row of teeth from the first incisor to the third molar averages 8.2 mm. One weighed specimen weighed 4.5 g. The fur is short and covered with hairs 2 to 3 mm long. The fur on the back is olive brown, with the hair base gray and the ends brown. The peritoneum is smoky gray or gray olive. The color of the dorsal and peritoneum goes over into each other without delimitation. The muzzle is covered with fine hairs from the tip of the nose to the eyes and has no long vibrissae . The long ears are covered with short fine hairs. There are stiff bristles on the inner folds. The front and rear feet are white. Unlike similar species of shrew, the lower part of the hind limbs does not have brown hair. The tail length is 67 percent of the total length. The tail is two-colored, brown on the top and white on the underside. The hairiness is almost 100 percent. In Ethiopia, a specimen was discovered in which the dorsal fur was deep reddish brown and the peritoneum light gray. The skull profile slopes slowly upwards at the front and is angled sharply downwards at the rear. The karyotype is 2n = 68, FN = 122. The number of teats is unknown.
Distribution area
The Yankari shrew has a fragmented range that includes Nigeria, Cameroon, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Kenya.
Habitat and way of life
The Yankari shrew mainly inhabits the dry savannah . However, a specimen from Ethiopia was discovered between bushes and boulders in the humid savannah , which is usually soaked in water during the rainy season. Little is known about their way of life.
status
The Yankari shrew is classified by the IUCN as "not endangered" ( least concern ). It is widely used and there are currently no known threats. However, information on their frequency and existence is not available.
literature
- Rainer Hutterer , Paulina D. Jenkins: A new species of Crocidura from Nigeria (Mammalia, Insectivora). In: Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History). Zoology Series. Vol. 39, No. 6, 1980, ISSN 0007-1498 , pp. 305-310, (first scientific description, online ).
- Rainer Hutterer: Yankari 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. 147-148.
Web links
- Crocidura yankariensis inthe IUCN 2013 Red List of Threatened Species . Posted by: Rainer Hutterer, 2008. Retrieved October 19, 2013.