genus
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
''Crocidura'' is one of nine
genera
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...
of the
shrew
Shrews ( family Soricidae) are small mole-like mammals classified in the order Eulipotyphla. True shrews are not to be confused with treeshrews, otter shrews, elephant shrews, West Indies shrews, or marsupial shrews, which belong to dif ...
subfamily Crocidurinae. Members of the genus are commonly called white-toothed shrews or musk shrews, although both also apply to all of the species in the subfamily. With over 180 species, ''Crocidura'' contains the most species of any
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 ...
genus. The name ''Crocidura'' means "woolly tail", because the tail of ''Crocidura'' species are covered in short hairs interspersed with longer ones.
They are found throughout all tropical and temperate regions of the
Old World
The "Old World" () is a term for Afro-Eurasia coined by Europeans after 1493, when they became aware of the existence of the Americas. It is used to contrast the continents of Africa, Europe, and Asia in the Eastern Hemisphere, previously ...
, from
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
north to
Europe
Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
, and east throughout
Asia
Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...
, as far east as the
Malay Archipelago
The Malay Archipelago is the archipelago between Mainland Southeast Asia and Australia, and is also called Insulindia or the Indo-Australian Archipelago. The name was taken from the 19th-century European concept of a Malay race, later based ...
. One species, the possibly extinct
Christmas Island shrew
The Christmas Island shrew (''Crocidura trichura''), also known as the Christmas Island musk-shrew is an extremely rare or possibly extinct shrew from Christmas Island. It was variously placed as subspecies of the Asian gray shrew (''Crocidura a ...
(''C. trichura''), also inhabited
Christmas Island
Christmas Island, officially the Territory of Christmas Island, is an States and territories of Australia#External territories, Australian external territory in the Indian Ocean comprising the island of the same name. It is about south o ...
. They likely originated in
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
or
Asia Minor
Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...
during the
Miocene
The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...
, spread to Europe by the early
Pliocene
The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...
.
List of species
Extant species
*
Javan hidden shrew
The Javan hidden shrew or Javan long-tailed shrew (''Crocidura abscondita'', also erroneously referred to as ''Crocidura absconditus'') is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It is endemic to the island of Java in Indonesia.
Taxonomy ...
(''C. abscondita'')
*
Sanetti shrew
The Sanetti shrew or Bekele's shrew (''Crocidura afeworkbekelei'') is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It is endemic to Ethiopia.
Etymology
Its specific epithet honors Ethiopian mammalogist Afework Bekele.
Distribution and habit ...
(''C. afeworkbekelei'')
*
Cyrenaica shrew
The Cyrenaica shrew or Alexander's shrew (''Crocidura aleksandrisi'') is a species of white-toothed shrew in the family Soricidae which is endemic to Libya.
The Cyrenaica shrew is a small shrew which is very similar to the widespread lesser w ...
(''C. aleksandrisi'')
*
East African highland shrew
The East African highland shrew (''Crocidura allex'') is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It is found in Kenya and Tanzania. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist montane forest
Montane ecosystems are found on t ...
(''C. allex'')
*
Andaman shrew
The Andaman shrew (''Crocidura andamanensis''), also known as the Andaman white-toothed shrew, is a critically endangered species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It is endemic to South Andaman Island in the Andaman Islands of India.
Taxonomy ...
(''C. andamanensis'')
*
Anhui white-toothed shrew
Anhui is an inland province located in East China. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze and Huai rivers, bordering Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the east, Jiangxi to the south, Hub ...
Ansell's shrew
Ansell's shrew (''Crocidura ansellorum'') is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It is endemic to Zambia. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. It is threatened by habitat loss
Habitat destruction ( ...
(''C. ansellorum'')
*
Arabian shrew
The Arabian shrew (''Crocidura arabica'') is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It is found in Oman and Yemen
Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it border ...
(''C. arabica'')
*
Jackass shrew
The jackass shrew (''Crocidura arispa'') is a species of mammal belonging to the Soricidae family. It is endemic to Turkey
Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relativ ...
(''C. arispa'')
*
Armenian shrew
The Armenian shrew (''Crocidura armenica'') is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It is endemic to Armenia.
Taxonomy
''Crocidura armenicai'' was named in 1963 by Gureev. It was known only from the two type specimens, both of which w ...
Southwest Peninsula white-toothed shrew
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A ''compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each ...
Bale shrew
The Bale shrew (''Crocidura bottegoides'') is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It is endemic to Ethiopia, in the Bale Mountains of the Ethiopian Highlands. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist montane forests and hi ...
Dent's shrew
Dent's shrew (''Crocidura denti'') is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It is found in Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Si ...
Dhofar shrew
The Dhofar shrew (''Crocidura dhofarensis'') is a white-toothed shrew found only in the Dhofar region of Oman and Yemen
Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borde ...
Elongated shrew
The elongated shrew (''Crocidura elongata'') is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It is endemic to the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania ...
Southeast Asian shrew
The Southeast Asian shrew (''Crocidura fuliginosa'') is a shrew that was, along with Hildegarde's shrew, described in 1904.
Distribution and habitat
The Southeast Asian Shrew is found in Cambodia, India, China, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thail ...
Glass's shrew
Glass's shrew (''Crocidura glassi'') is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It is endemic to Ethiopia. The mammal's natural habitats are subtropical or tropical high-elevation shrubland and grassland, and swamp
A swamp is a forested ...
Greater Mindanao shrew
The Greater Mindanao shrew (''Crocidura grandis'') is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It is endemic to the Philippines
The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic count ...
Güldenstädt's shrew
Güldenstädt's shrew (''Crocidura gueldenstaedtii'') is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It is sometimes considered a subspecies of the lesser white-toothed shrew (''C. suaveolens''), but more recent studies support it being a disti ...
Hildegarde's shrew
Hildegarde's shrew (''Crocidura hildegardeae'') is a recently discovered shrew, described in 1904. Considered by some authorities to be a subspecies of the Peters's musk shrew, it is now recognised as a separate species, with a diploid chromosom ...
(''C. hildegardeae'')
*
Hill's shrew
Hill's shrew (''Crocidura hilliana'') is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It is found in Thailand and Laos
Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is b ...
(''C. hilliana'')
*
Lesser red musk shrew
The lesser red musk shrew (''Crocidura hirta'') is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It is found in Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Eswatini, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe ...
(''C. hirta'')
*
Andaman spiny shrew
The Andaman spiny shrew or Andaman shrew (''Crocidura hispida'') is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It is endemic to India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries ...
(''C. hispida'')
*
Horsfield's shrew
Horsfield's shrew (''Crocidura horsfieldii'') 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 th ...
(''C. horsfieldii'')
*
Hutan shrew
The Hutan shrew (''Crocidura hutanis'') is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It is known only from northern Sumatra in Indonesia.
References
Crocidura
Mammals described in 1995
{{whitetoothed-shrew-stub ...
Sulawesi shrew
The Sulawesi shrew (''Crocidura lea'') is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It is endemic to the central and northern provinces of Sulawesi in Indonesia. It is a fairly common species and the International Union for Conservation of Na ...
(''C. lea'')
*
Sumatran giant shrew
The Sumatran giant shrew (''Crocidura lepidura'') is a shrew of the genus ''Crocidura''. It is native to the Indonesian island of Sumatra, where it is found both in the rainforest
Rainforests are forests characterized by a closed and cont ...
(''C. lepidura'')
*
Bicolored shrew
The bicolored shrew or bicoloured white-toothed shrew (''Crocidura leucodon'') is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It is found in eastern, central and southern Europe and in western Asia. It is a nocturnal species and feeds on insect ...
(''C. leucodon'')
*
Sulawesi tiny shrew
The Sulawesi tiny shrew (''Crocidura levicula'') is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It is endemic to the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oce ...
MacMillan's shrew
MacMillan's shrew (''Crocidura macmillani'') is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It is endemic to the Ethiopian Highlands. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist montane forests, and moist savanna.
References
...
Swamp musk shrew
The swamp musk shrew (''Crocidura mariquensis''), or musk shrew, is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It occurs in Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Eswatini, Zambia and Zimbabwe. I ...
Sunda shrew
The Sunda shrew (''Crocidura monticola'') is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae found in Indonesia and Malaysia.
Populations from the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and Borneo are now considered to belong to '' Crocidura neglecta''. The wid ...
Mossy forest shrew
The mossy forest shrew (''Crocidura musseri'') is a species of shrew native to Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Paci ...
Nimba shrew
The Nimba shrew (''Crocidura nimbae'') is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It is found in Ivory Coast, Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coas ...
Niobe's shrew
Niobe's shrew (''Crocidura niobe'') 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, ...
West African pygmy shrew
The West African pygmy shrew or obscure white-toothed shrew (''Crocidura obscurior'') is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It is found in Ivory Coast, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tro ...
(''C. obscurior'')
*
African giant shrew
The African giant shrew (''Crocidura olivieri'') is a species of white-toothed shrew. It also is known as, Mann's musk shrew, Euchareena's musk shrew, or Olivier's shrew. It is native to Africa, where it has a widespread distribution and occurs ...
(''C. olivieri'')
*
West Sulawesi white-toothed shrew
West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...
Small-footed shrew
The small-footed shrew (''Crocidura parvipes'') is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It is found in Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, South S ...
Pitman's shrew
Pitman's shrew (''Crocidura pitmani'') is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It is endemic to Zambia
Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, ...
(''C. pitmani'')
*
Flat-headed shrew
The flat-headed shrew (''Crocidura planiceps'') is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It is found in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Uganda
Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked ...
(''C. planiceps'')
*
Fraser's musk shrew
Fraser's musk shrew (''Crocidura poensis'') is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It is found in Benin, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, São Tomé and Príncipe, Sierra Leone, and Togo. Its na ...
Sulawesi white-handed shrew
The Sulawesi white-handed shrew or Temboan shrew (''Crocidura rhoditis'') is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It is endemic to the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia. It is a fairly common species and the population seems stable so the ...
Greater white-toothed shrew
The greater white-toothed shrew (''Crocidura russula'') is a small insectivorous mammal found in Europe and North Africa.
It is the most common of the white-toothed shrews. This species is found along the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean, Nethe ...
Lesser gray-brown musk shrew
The lesser gray-brown musk shrew (''Crocidura silacea'') is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It is found in Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Its natural habitats are dry sav ...
Lesser white-toothed shrew
The lesser white-toothed shrew (''Crocidura suaveolens'') is a small species of shrew with a widespread distribution in Africa, Asia and Europe. Its preferred habitat is scrub and gardens and it feeds on insects, arachnids, worms, gastropods, n ...
Saharan shrew
The Saharan shrew (''Crocidura tarfayensis'') is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It is found in Western Sahara, Mauritania and Morocco
Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North A ...
Timor shrew
The Timor shrew or thin shrew (''Crocidura tenuis'') is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It is endemic to Timor
Timor (, , ) is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, in the north of the Timor Sea. The island ...
(''C. tenuis'')
*
Thalia's shrew
Thalia's shrew (''Crocidura thalia'') is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It is endemic to Ethiopia. The mammal's natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist montane forests and high-elevation grasslands, and moist savanna.
Re ...
São Tomé shrew
The São Tomé shrew (''Crocidura thomensis'') is a white-toothed shrew about long found only on São Tomé Island, São Tomé and Príncipe. It is listed as a critically endangered species due to habitat loss and a restricted range. It was dis ...
(''C. thomensis'')
*
Christmas Island shrew
The Christmas Island shrew (''Crocidura trichura''), also known as the Christmas Island musk-shrew is an extremely rare or possibly extinct shrew from Christmas Island. It was variously placed as subspecies of the Asian gray shrew (''Crocidura a ...
(''C. trichura'') (possibly extinct)
*
Turbo shrew
The turbo shrew (''Crocidura turba'') is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It is found in Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Kenya, M ...
Voi shrew
The Voi shrew (''Crocidura voi'') is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It is found in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Somalia, Sudan, and Togo. Its natural h ...
Xanthippe's shrew
Xanthippe's shrew (''Crocidura xantippe'') is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It is found in Kenya and Tanzania. Its natural habitats are dry savanna and subtropical or tropical dry shrubland
Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, ...
Mikhail Zaitsev’s shrew
Mikhail Zaitsev's shrew (''Crocidura zaitsevi'') is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It is endemic to Vietnam.
Distribution
The species is restricted to Ngoc Linh mountain in the Vietnamese province of Kon Tum
Kon Tum is the c ...
(''C. zaitsevi'')
*
Zaphir's shrew
Zaphir's shrew (''Crocidura zaphiri'') is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It is found in Ethiopia and Kenya
Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more th ...
Cretan shrew
The Cretan shrew (''Crocidura zimmermanni'') is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It is endemic to the island of Crete, Greece.
Taxonomy and evolution
''Crocidura russula zimmermanni'' was first described as a subspecies of '' C. r ...
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...
of
Morocco
Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...
Crocidura jaegeri
The genus ''Crocidura'' is one of nine genus, genera of the shrew subfamily Crocidurinae. Members of the genus are commonly called white-toothed shrews or musk shrews, although both also apply to all of the species in the subfamily. With over 18 ...
'' (Pleistocene of Morocco)
* ''
Crocidura kornfeldi
''Crocidura kornfeldi'' is an extinct species of shrew that inhabited Central and Southern Europe between the Pliocene and Pleistocene. It is the first species of the widespread, extremely speciose genus ''Crocidura'' known with certainty to hav ...
'' (
Pliocene
The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch (geology), epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.33 to 2.58
* ''
Crocidura kapsominensis
The genus ''Crocidura'' is one of nine genera of the shrew subfamily Crocidurinae. Members of the genus are commonly called white-toothed shrews or musk shrews, although both also apply to all of the species in the subfamily. With over 180 spec ...
'' (Miocene of
Kenya
Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...
)
* '' Crocidura maghrebiana'' (Pleistocene of Morocco)
* '' Crocidura marocana'' (Pleistocene of Morocco)
* '' Crocidura tadjerensis'' (Pleistocene of Morocco)
* '' Crocidura thomasi'' (Pleistocene of Morocco)
A significant diversity of extinct ''Crocidura'' species is known from the early-mid Pleistocene of Morocco, but by the majority of these species went extinct between the Middle to Late Pleistocene boundary, and were replaced by modern species. Indeterminate ''Crocidura'' remains are known from the Miocene-aged rocks in the Potwar Plateau of
Pakistan
Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
embalmed
Embalming is the art and science of preserving human remains by treating them with embalming chemicals in modern times to forestall decomposition. This is usually done to make the deceased suitable for viewing as part of the funeral ceremony or ...
in
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...
, being associated with the dark aspect of the god
Horus
Horus (), also known as Heru, Har, Her, or Hor () in Egyptian language, Ancient Egyptian, is one of the most significant ancient Egyptian deities who served many functions, most notably as the god of kingship, healing, protection, the sun, and t ...
. Many of these mummies have been uncovered during excavations at the Falcon Necropolis, providing important information about the former diversity of shrews in this area.