The Armenian shrew (''Crocidura armenica'') is a species of

mammal A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three ...

in the family Soricidae. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

Taxonomy

''Crocidura armenicai'' was named in 1963 by Gureev. It was known only from the two type specimens, both of which were damaged. It is a member of the "pergrisea" species complex, which is taxonomically controversial, and ''armenicai'' was not always considered a valid species: for instance Zitsev (1993) thought that it might be a subspecies of ''C. pergrisea,'' Hutterer (1993) and Kryštufek and Vohralík (2005) considered it a full species, while the 2018

Handbook of the Mammals of the World ''Handbook of the Mammals of the World'' (''HMW'') is a book series from the publisher Lynx Edicions. The nine volumes were published from 2009 to 2019. Each mammal family is assessed in a full text introduction with photographs and each species ...

did not list it. A 2024 study, using micro-CT scanning and genetic data, tentatively reanalyzed ''Crocidura armenica'' as a full species, and identified several new specimens from museum collections. They found that it was relatively close genetically to '' Crocidura arispa'', but that there was a distinct difference in the skull and mandible shape.

Description

The Armenian shrew is around long, with a tail. The fur is grey, with a white stomach. It changes shades in the winter and summer. It can be distinguished by the small skull and by characteristics of the teeth. There is minimal information on the behavior, habitat, and distribution of the Armenian shrew, which is not very well known. It was first found in Armenia and thought to be endemic, but a 2024 paper tentatively identified as the Armenian shrew several specimens found in Azerbaijan. Shrews of the "perigisea" group can be found in rocky habitats.

Sources

{{Taxonbar, from=Q305376 Mammals of Europe Crocidura Endemic fauna of Armenia Mammals described in 1963 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot