Mount Kenya vole
| Mount Kenya vole | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Surdisorex polulus | ||||||||||||
| Hollister , 1916 |
The Mount Kenya vole ( Surdisorex polulus ) is an East African shrew that is endemic to the Mount Kenya massif .
features
They are relatively large (85 to 92 mm head-trunk length ), mole-like shrews with long claws on the forelegs and a short tail. The fur is velvety, the hair 5 to 7 mm long. The back fur is dark and chocolate brown, the peritoneum a little lighter and sooty. The head is 24 to 25 mm long and wide like a mole, the muzzle pointed. Eyes and ears are small and covered by hair. The forelimbs are short. The forefoot is broad with five toes. Three toes have light-colored, 4 to 6 mm long claws, two toes have short claws that are 2 to 3 mm long. Hind legs and feet are short. All five claws of the hind foot toes are light-colored. The tail reaches about 30% of the length of the head and trunk and is therefore relatively short for a shrew tail. He is thickly covered with black short hair.
Habitat and way of life
The Mount Kenya vole occurs exclusively in the Mount Kenya massif. The few known specimens were caught in the Afromontane Zone at altitudes of around 3300 meters on the west side of the massif. The biotope is characterized by swamps and stone slabs - bamboo forests. The ground is covered with a short covering of grass or covered with leaf litter. The range is possibly limited by the structure of the soil and the associated occurrence of earthworms. The animals live carnivorous. The most important prey animals are earthworms. These are bitten into small pieces before being eaten. They are held with the front feet. Normally only the front parts of the worms are eaten up to the clitellum , the rear part with the intestine filled with earth and detritus, however, is spurned. A well-known parasite of the Mount Kenya vole is the flea Ctenophthalmus cophurus .
literature
- RM Baxter & NJ Dippenaar: Surdisorex polulus Aberdare Mole-shrew, pp. 184-185 in Meredith Happold and David Happold (eds.): Mammals of Africa Volume IV. Hedgehogs, Shrews and Bats. Bloomsbury, London 2013, ISBN 978-1-4081-2254-9
Web links
- Surdisorex polulus in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2008. Posted by: Oguge, N. & Hutterer, R., 2008. Accessed November 12, 2015.