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The Lesser Treeshrew, Tupaia minorGünther, 1876, is a small mammal from Southeast Asia with four currently recognized subspecies: T. m. minor from Borneo; T. m. malaccana from the Malay Peninsula; T. m. humeralis from Sumatra; and T. m. sincepis from Singkep Island and Lingga Island. A fifth subspecies, T. m. caedis, was previously synonymized with T. m. minor; it was thought to occur in northern Borneo and on the nearby islands of Banggi and Balambangan. These subspecies were originally differentiated based on pelage color, a plastic feature that has proven to be an unreliable indicator of taxonomic boundaries in treeshrews and other mammals. To explore infraspecific variation among T. minor populations across the Malay Peninsula, Borneo, Sumatra, and smaller islands, we conducted multivariate analyses of morphometric data collected from the hands and skulls of museum specimens. Principal component and discriminant function analyses reveal limited differentiation in manus and skull proportions among populations of T. minor from different islands. We find no morphometric support for the recognition of the four allopatric subspecies and no support for the recognition of T. m. caedis as a separate subspecies on Borneo.

For more than 130 years, the type locality of the Plains Spotted Skunk, Spilogale putorius interrupta (Rafinesque, 1820) has been accepted to be along the upper Missouri River. The species’ description was based on a specimen observed by Constantine S. Rafinesque during his 1818 exploration of the Ohio River Valley, but Rafinesque never ventured into the animal’s geographic range west of the Mississippi River, calling into question the type locality and, therefore, the identity of the taxon. We reconstruct Rafinesque’s itinerary from his notes, publications, and correspondence and determine that Rafinesque probably observed the specimen on 20 September in Middletown, Kentucky, while traveling between Louisville and Lexington. He spent the day with John Bradbury, who participated in the 1811 Astor expedition up the Missouri River. On 1 April 1811, Bradbury collected the skin of a skunk, and evidence suggests that it was this skin that Rafinesque described. The type specimen of the Plains Spotted Skunk was obtained on the Missouri River flood plain in southern Chariton County or northern Saline County, Missouri, and this area should be considered the type locality for M. interrupta.

Thaddeus William Harris described the green mole of Maine, Condylura prasinata (Mammalia: Eulipotyphla: Talpidae), in the July 1825 issue of the Boston Journal of Philosophy and the Arts, and this was considered the original description of the species throughout most of the nineteenth century. In the early twentieth century, taxonomists began instead to cite an earlier notice in the June 1825 issue of the American Journal of Science and Arts. This short article also described the species, but also established a separate genus for it, Astromycter, despite Harris’s indications elsewhere that the species was congeneric with the star-nosed mole, Condylura cristata ( Linnaeus, 1758 ). Moreover, the American Journal of Science and Arts article cited as its source the “ Machias Star”, indicating the possibility of an even earlier description of the animal. With Astromycter prasinata in synonymy with C. cristata for over a century, little effort has been exerted to determine whether earlier source materials exist or why, within two months, the green mole was allocated to two different genera by its describer. The question is taxonomically relevant today because C. prasinata predates C. cristata nigra Smith, 1940 , as an available name for north-eastern populations of star-nosed moles. If subspecies of C. cristata are to be recognized, the north-eastern subspecies should correctly bear the name C. cristata prasinata. In fact, authority for both genus- and species-group names for the green mole have been misattributed since 1825. The descriptions of C. prasinata by Thaddeus William Harris in the Boston Journal of Philosophy and the Arts and American Journal of Science and Arts were preceded by at least three published descriptions of A. prasinatus by Thaddeus Mason Harris, his father.

The Large Treeshrew, Tupaia tana Raffles, 1821, is a small mammal (~205 g) from Southeast Asia with a complicated taxonomic history. Currently, 15 subspecies are recognized from Borneo, Sumatra, and smaller islands, and many were originally differentiated based on minor pelage differences and small sample sizes. We explored intraspecific variation in T. tana using quantitative osteological data obtained from the hands and skulls of museum specimens. Multivariate analyses reveal extensive overlap among T. tana populations in morphospace, indicating that the majority of currently recognized subspecies are not morphometrically distinct. In contrast, the separation between Bornean and Sumatran populations of T. tana is sufficient to recognize them as different subspecies. Comparisons of Bornean specimens to those on small, offshore islands reveal that the latter average smaller body size. This pattern is inconsistent with Foster’s island rule, which predicts that island populations of small mammals (< 5 kg) will average larger body size relative to mainland forms. A similar lack of support for ecogeographic rules has been noted in T. glis (Diard, 1820), suggesting that these “rules” are poor predictors of geographic variation in treeshrews.

Tree hyraxes (Dendrohyrax) are one of only three genera currently recognized in Procaviidae, the only extant family in the mammalian order Hyracoidea. Their taxonomy and natural history have received little attention in recent decades. All tree hyrax populations of Guineo-Congolian forests of Africa are currently treated as a single species, Dendrohyrax dorsalis, the western tree hyrax, but many other groups of mammals distributed across this large biome have been shown to consist of several different species, each restricted to a distinct biogeographical region. We analysed variation in loud-call structure, pelage colour, skull morphometrics and mitochondrial genomes in populations across much of the range of D. dorsalis. This integrative approach uncovered considerable cryptic variation. The population found between the Niger and Volta Rivers in West Africa is particularly distinctive, and we describe it herein as a new species. Our study highlights the need to revise the taxonomy of the genus Dendrohyrax in light of modern systematics and current understanding of its distribution. It also adds to a growing body of evidence that the Niger–Volta interfluvium has a distinct meso-mammal fauna. Unfortunately, the fauna of this region is under major threat and warrants much greater conservation attention.

Age is a basic demographic characteristic vital to studies of mammalian social organization, population dynamics, and behavior. To eliminate potentially confounding ontogenetic variation, morphological comparisons among populations of mammals typically are limited to mature individuals (i.e., those assumed to have ceased most somatic growth). In our morphometric studies of treeshrews (Scandentia), adult individuals are defined by the presence of fully erupted permanent dentition, a common criterion in specimen-based mammalogy. In a number of cases, however, we have had poorly sampled populations of interest in which there were potentially useful specimens that could not be included in samples because they lacked associated skulls. Such specimens typically are associated with external body and weight measurements recorded by the original collectors, and we sought to determine whether these data could be used successfully as a proxy for age or at least to establish maturity. We analyzed four traditional external dimensions (head-and-body length, tail length, hind foot length, and ear length) and weight associated with 103 specimens from two allopatric populations of the Lesser Treeshrew (Tupaia minor Günther, 1876) from Peninsular Malaysia and from Borneo, which we treated as separate samples (populations). Individuals were assigned to one of eight age categories based on dental eruption stage, and measurements were compared among groups. In general, mean sizes of infants and subadults were smaller than those of adults, but the majority of subadults fell within the range of variation of adults. The large overlap among infants, subadults, and adults in external measurements and weight indicates that such measures are poor proxies for age in this species, probably for treeshrews in general, and possibly for other small mammals. This has significant implications for any investigation wherein relative age of individuals in a given population is an important consideration.

The small-eared shrew genus Cryptotis is the third largest in the family Soricidae and occurs in North, Central, and northern South America. In Mexico and Central and South America, most species inhabit geographically isolated moist, montane habitats at middle and high elevations in a typical sky-island pattern. The 49 recognized species have been partitioned into as many as six species groups based on morphological and molecular phylogenetic studies. The relationships among these species groups are poorly resolved, and their evolutionary histories, including migration patterns and locomotor adaptations, remain unclear. Herein, we provide a new phylogeny incorporating complete mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) and supermatrix approach. We compared different evolutionary scenarios using approximately unbiased (AU), Kishino-Hasegawa (KH), and Shimodaira-Hasegawa (SH) statistical tests. The phylogenetic hypothesis based on mitogenomes revealed novel relationships supporting a basal position for the Cryptotis parvus-group in the genus, and a close relationship between C. gracilis and one clade of the C. thomasi-group. The former relationship is consistent with the least derived humerus morphology and northern distribution of the species. The latter relationship implies multiple migrations between Central and South America. The lack of fine resolution for the species group relationships may be due partly to the lack of taxon sampling. In contrast, multi-approach analyses suggest that the unresolved relationships may be a result of rapid diversification during the early stages of Cryptotis evolution.

Excavation of Ptolemaic Period (ca. 309–30 BC) strata within Theban Tombs 11, 12, -399-, and UE194A by the Spanish Mission to Dra Abu el-Naga (also known as the Djehuty Project), on the west bank of the Nile River opposite Luxor, Egypt, yielded remains of at least 175 individual small mammals that include four species of shrews (Eulipotypha: Soricidae) and two species of rodents (Rodentia: Muridae). Two of the shrews (Crocidura fulvastra and Crocidura pasha) no longer occur in Egypt, and one species (Crocidura olivieri) is known in the country only from a disjunct population inhabiting the Nile delta and the Fayum. Although deposited in the tombs by humans as part of religious ceremonies, these animals probably derived originally from local wild populations. The coexistence of this diverse array of shrew species as part of the mammal community near Luxor indicates greater availability of moist floodplain habitats than occur there at present. These were probably made possible by a greater flow of the Nile, as indicated by geomorphological and palynological evidence. The mammal fauna recovered by the Spanish Mission provides a unique snapshot of the native Ptolemaic community during this time period, and it permits us to gauge community turnover in the Nile valley of Upper Egypt during the last 2000 years. It also serves as a relevant example for understanding the extinction and extirpation of mammal species as effects of future environmental changes predicted by current climatic models.

In 1815, the naturalist Constantine Samuel Rafinesque (1783–1840) previewed three new species of cetaceans – Delphinus dalippus, Physeter urganantus and Oxypterus mongitori – that he intended to describe from Sicily based on illustrations in Antonino Mongitore's published work Della Sicilia ricercata nelle cose più memorabili (1742–1743). Although formal descriptions of the three species were never published, Rafinesque's reference to Mongitore's illustrations made the names available by “indication”. The names, nonetheless, fell into obscurity, most likely a result of contemporary taxonomists' lack of access to Mongitore's work. Rafinesque's names remain relevant to the history of cetacean taxonomy, although they are no longer applicable. Moreover, the animals associated with these names add to the historical record of whale strandings in the Mediterranean. For these reasons, we studied the illustrations Rafinesque indicated for his cetaceans and reviewed Mongitore's accompanying text, which together provide sufficient distinctive characters that two of the three animals can be confidently identified with modern species, namely the sperm whale, Physeter catodon Linnaeus, 1758 , and the false killer whale, Pseudorca crassidens (Owen, 1846). Had Rafinesque's name D. dalippus been recognized for what it was, it would have had priority over P. crassidens as the earliest scientific name for the false killer whale.

Morphometric analyses of the manus skeleton have proven useful in understanding species limits and morphological divergence among tupaiid treeshrews (Scandentia: Tupaiidae). Specimens in these studies are typically limited to mature individuals with fully erupted permanent dentition, which eliminates potentially confounding variation attributable to age, but also can exclude rare taxa and small island populations that are poorly represented in systematic collections. To determine the real limits associated with including immature animals in such studies, we used multivariate analyses to study sexual and age variation of the manus skeleton in two allopatric populations of the Lesser Treeshrew (Tupaia minor Günther, 1876) from the Malay Peninsula and from Borneo that we treated as separate samples. Individuals were aged using dental eruption of the permanent dentition. We also recorded the degree of epiphyseal fusion of the bones of the manus based on x-rays of study skins. We then tested our ability to distinguish the two populations using a series of discriminant function analyses of hand measurements from samples that included varying proportions of immature individuals and adults. We found no evidence of sexual dimorphism in hand proportions, permitting us to combine females and males in our samples. Epiphyseal fusion of the metacarpals and phalanges typically occurs by the time the third molars have completely erupted, and fusion of the distal epiphyses of the radius and ulna typically occurs by the time the permanent fourth premolars are in place. There is occasional asynchrony between dental age and epiphyseal fusion. In both populations, the hands of most infants and subadults provide morphometric values within the range of variation of adults, although they are typically distributed in the lower part of the adult range and have the potential to bias the sample toward lower mean size. The inclusion of infants and subadults when attempting to discriminate between two taxa generally results in lower rates of correct classifications, although the rates increase as the sample of immature individuals is limited to older subadults. As a general rule, we recommend that specimens of infants and subadults continue to be excluded from analyses when exploring taxonomic boundaries among treeshrews. In cases of extremely small sample sizes of adults, however, older subadults—in which the permanent third premolars are erupting or in place—can be used with appropriate caution.

The clade comprising the soricid tribes Blarinellini (Blarinella) and Blarinini (Blarina and Cryptotis) is notable within the Soricidae (Eulipotyphla) for the large proportion of reportedly semifossorial species. To better define locomotor modes among species in these two tribes, we quantified purported locomotor adaptations by calculating 23 functional indices from postcranial measurements obtained from museum specimens of Blarina and Blarinella and published measurements for 16 species of Cryptotis. We then analyzed relative ambulatory–fossorial function of each species using principal component analyses and mean percentile rank (MPR) analysis of the indices. Species within the Blarinellini–Blarinini clade exhibit a graded series of morphologies with four primary functional groupings that we classified as “ambulatory,” “intermediate,” “semifossorial,” and “fossorial.” To obtain a preliminary overview of evolution of locomotor modes in this group, we mapped MPRs on a composite phylogeny and examined the resulting patterns. That analysis revealed that the most recent common ancestor of the Blarinellini–Blarinini clade most likely had an intermediate or semifossorial locomotor morphology. Individual subclades subsequently evolved either more ambulatory or more fossorial morphologies. Hence, evolution of locomotor traits within this clade is complex. Multiple shifts in locomotor mode likely occurred, and no single directional tendency is apparent either among the major modes or in levels of complexity.

All else being equal, the principle of priority in zoological taxonomic nomenclature gives precedence to the earliest name for a particular taxon. Determining the origin of some late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century taxonomic names, however, can be vexing, particularly when the history of a name was never completely documented in contemporary synonymies. The authorship and date for Orycteropus Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1796: 102, the genus-group name for the African aardvark, Orycteropus afer (Pallas, 1766), has been variously ascribed to at least four authors other than É. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire. Using digitally imaged publications now available in a variety of internet-accessible libraries, I traced the comprehensive history of the name and show how and, to some extent, why its origin became obscured. É. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire’s original description was re-published twice, most likely to make the description more widely available. Rather than reinforce his authorship for the name, however, the surprising consequence of the multiple publications was to cast doubt on it.

Animals served important roles in the religious cults that proliferated during the Late (ca. 747–332 BCE) and Greco-Roman Periods (332 BCE–CE 337) of ancient Egypt. One result was the interment of animal mummies in specialized necropolises distributed throughout the country. Excavation of a rock-tomb that was re-used during the Ptolemaic Period (ca. 309–30 BCE) for the interment of animal mummies at the Djehuty Site (TT 11–12) near Luxor, Egypt, was carried out in early 2018 by a Spanish–Egyptian team sponsored by the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid. The tomb burned sometime after deposition of the mummies, leaving behind abundant disassociated skeletal remains, primarily of avians, but also including two species of shrews (Soricidae): Crocidura olivieri and C. religiosa. To investigate possible intraspecific variation in morphology and locomotor function in these two species during the last two millennia, we measured morphological features of individual postcranial bones from the two archaeological samples and calculated indices that have been used to assess locomotor function. We compared the measurements to those from modern C. olivieri, C. religiosa, and C. suaveolens using principal components analysis, and we compared locomotor indices to those we calculated for the three modern species of Crocidura and to those from nine species of myosoricine shrews. Osteological features of the postcranial skeleton of conspecific Ptolemaic and modern samples of C. olivieri and C. religiosa are generally similar in character and proportion, and, skeletally, these shrews and modern C. suaveolens are consistent with soricids having a primarily ambulatory locomotor mode. One exception is the deltopectoral crest of the humerus, which appears to be longer in modern C. religiosa. Despite general conservation of form and function, Ptolemaic C. olivieri had larger body size than modern Egyptian populations and were more similar in size to modern C. olivieri nyansae from Kenya than to modern C. olivieri olivieri from Egypt.

The Falcon Necropolis at Quesna in the Nile Delta of Egypt is considered to have been founded by the priest Djedhor, the Saviour, of Athribis (Tell Atrib in modern Benha) at the beginning of the Ptolemaic Period. Recent excavations here have revealed abundant avian remains from mummies dedicated to the ancient Egyptian god Horus Khenty-Khety. Among the few mammal remains from the site are five species of shrews (Eulipotyphla: Soricidae), including some that we identified as Güldenstaedt’s White-toothed Shrew, Crocidura gueldenstaedtii (Pallas, 1811). Discovery of this species at Quesna increases the number of shrews recovered from ancient Egyptian archaeological sites to eight species. Crocidura gueldenstaedtii no longer occurs in the Nile Delta, and its presence in a diverse shrew fauna at Quesna that includes one other extirpated species, Crocidura fulvastra (Sundevall, 1843), supports the hypothesis of a moister regional environment 2000–3000 years ago. Inadvertently preserved local faunas, such as that from Quesna, can provide valuable information about ancient environments and subsequent turnover in faunal communities.

Wild mammals are known to survive injuries that result in skeletal abnormalities. Quantifying and comparing skeletal injuries among species can provide insight into the factors that cause skeletal injuries and enable survival following an injury. We documented the prevalence and location of structural bone abnormalities in a community of 7 small mammal species inhabiting the White Mountains of New Hampshire. These species differ in locomotion type and levels of intraspecific aggression. Overall, the majority of injuries were to the ribs or caudal vertebrae. Incidence of skeletal injuries was highest in older animals, indicating that injuries accumulate over a lifetime. Compared to species with ambulatory locomotion, those with more specialized (semi-fossorial, saltatorial, and scansorial) locomotion exhibited fewer skeletal abnormalities in the arms and legs, which we hypothesize is a result of a lesser ability to survive limb injuries. Patterns of skeletal injuries in shrews (Soricidae) were consistent with intraspecific aggression, particularly in males, whereas skeletal injuries in rodents (Rodentia) were more likely accidental or resulting from interactions with predators. Our results demonstrate that both the incidence and pattern of skeletal injuries vary by species and suggest that the ability of an individual to survive a specific skeletal injury depends on its severity and location as well as the locomotor mode of the species involved.

— John Bachman (1837:391) described the “fringe-footed shrew,” Sorex fimbripes Bachman, 1837, in his landmark monograph on the North American Soricidae (Mammalia: Eulipotyphla), in which he recognized 13 uniquely New World species. Characters he attributed to S. fimbripes resulted in its being interpreted as a tiny, semi-aquatic species and contributed to the complexity of its subsequent taxonomic history. The status and location of the holotype, which should aid in resolving questions about the nature of S. fimbripes, instead have added to the confusion. Originally studied by Bachman in South Carolina, the holotype was later thought to have been identified in the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia (ANSP), and it is currently considered to be in the National Museum of Natural History (USNM), Washington, D.C. To clarify the identity of the species and its holotype, I compared descriptions of the holotype and the ANSP type with the USNM specimen and with eight species of eastern North Amer...

The name Sorex acadicus Gilpin, 1865 is currently recognized as the valid name for the Nova Scotian subspecies of the masked shrew, S. cinereus Kerr, 1792 (Mammalia: Soricidae), but a holotype for the taxon was never designated, and the location of the type series has been a mystery. The authority for this species, John Bernard Gilpin, was associated with the Nova Scotia Museum, Halifax, NS, but that institution has no Gilpin specimens in its possession, and I could find no record of Gilpin shrews in any other Canadian Museum. I recently discovered a series of Gilpin specimens in the Mammal Collection of the National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC (USNM), some of which may have been part of the original type series of S. acadicus, and I show that these specimens best represent Gilpin's concept of the taxon. From this series, I designate a neotype for S. acadicus. I also evaluate the distinctiveness of Nova Scotian S. c. acadicus compared with S. c. cinereus from Maine, New Brunswick, a...

In 1815, the naturalist Constantine S. Rafinesque described a new species of cetacean, Balena gastrytis, from Sicily, based on a whale that stranded on Carini beach near Palermo. In comparing the characteristics of his new whale with known species, Rafinesque also took the opportunity to name a new genus, Cetoptera, to replace Balaenoptera Lacépède, 1804 . Unfortunately, few of Rafinesque's contemporaries saw his article, which appeared in Il Portafoglio, a local journal that he published and distributed. The journal remains rare, and awareness of the whale remains minimal, despite its relevance to cetacean taxonomy and understanding of whale diversity and distribution in the Mediterranean. We describe the circumstances of the stranding of the Sicilian whale and provide Rafinesque's original description of the whale, as well as an evaluation of its reported characteristics and its current identity.

Small-eared shrews of the genus Cryptotis (Mammalia: Eulipotyphla: Soricidae) are widespread in the northern Neotropics. Systematic studies of these shrews over the past two decades have revealed previously undocumented morphological and species diversity, resulting in a quadrupling of the number of recognized species. Unfortunately, a small proportion of the species in the genus have been included in molecular phylogenetic studies, and evolutionary relationships within the genus are incompletely known. Traditionally, species have been assigned to four or five morphologically defined ‘species groups’, but tests of the monophyly of some of these groups show weak support and relationships amongst species groups remain somewhat speculative. The largest species group is the C. mexicanus group inhabiting Mexico and northern Central America. We studied sequences from mitochondrial cytochrome-b and 16S genes, as well as nuclear ApoB and BRCA1 genes from 22 species of Cryptotis, including 15 species in the C. mex...

We describe a new species of small-eared shrew, genus Cryptotis Pomel, 1848 (Eulipotyphla: Soricidae), from near the community of Monteverde in the Tilaran highlands of northwestern Costa Rica. The new species is immediately distinguished from all other Costa Rican shrews its large size and long tail. Morphologically, it belongs to the Cryptotis thomasi group of small-eared shrews, a clade that is more typically distributed in the Andes Cordillera and other highland regions of northern South America. The new Costa Rican species and the Panamanian endemic Cryptotis endersi Setzer, 1950 are the only two members of this species group known to occur in Central America. Like most other members of the C. thomasi group for which the postcranial skeleton has been studied, the new species tends be more ambulatory (rather than semi-fossorial) when compared with other members of the genus. Our survey efforts over several decades failed to locate a population of the new species, and we discuss its conservation status in light of its limited potential distribution in the Tilaran highlands and the significant climatic change that has been documented in the Monteverde region during the past four decades.

The North American naturalist Constantine S. Rafinesque spent much of the year 1818 engaged in a solo journey down the Ohio River Valley to explore parts of what was then the western United States. Along the way, he visited a number of fellow naturalists, and he spent more than a week at the Henderson, Kentucky, home of artist and ornithologist John James Audubon. During the succeeding two years, Rafinesque published descriptions of new species that resulted from his expedition, including eleven species of fishes that eventually proved to have been invented by Audubon as a prank on the credulous naturalist. Less well known are a number of “wild rats” described by Rafinesque that include one recognized species (Musculus leucopus) and ten other, imaginary “species” fabricated by Audubon (Gerbillus leonurus, G. megalops, Spalax trivittata, Cricetus fasciatus, Sorex cerulescens, S. melanotis, Musculus nigricans, Lemmus albovittatus, L. talpoides, Sciurus ruber). Rafinesque's unpublished sketches of these animals provide important insight regarding the supposed nature of the animals invented by Audubon and ultimately published by Rafinesque.

Review of specimens of long-tailed shrews (Mammalia, Soricidae, Sorex) from the northwestern United States in the National Museum of Natural History (USNM), Washington, DC, has revealed the presence of the Olympic Shrew, Sorex rohweri Rausch et al., 2007, in the Coastal Range west of the Willamette Valley in Oregon. This determination nearly doubles the documented distribution for this species and increases the species diversity of soricids in Oregon to eleven. Sorex rohweri is relatively uncommon, but it occurs in a variety of forest successional stages and even clear cuts, as long as there is nearby forest and trees are allowed to regenerate. All USNM specimens from Washington formerly identified as S. cinereus streatori Merriam, 1895 are instead referable to the Olympic Shrew. The distribution of S. c. streatori is thereby restricted to the Pacific coasts of British Columbia north of the lower Frasier River and southcentral Alaska. Our study highlights the importance of taking and preserving h...

Broad-clawed shrews of the Cryptotis goldmani group (Mammalia: Eulipotyphla: Soricidae) are discontinuously distributed in temperate highlands from southern Tamaulipas, Mexico, to Honduras. The group represents a clade within the small-eared shrews (genus Cryptotis Pomel, 1848) that is characterized by modifications of the forelimb, including broadened fore-feet, elongated and broadened fore-claws, and a massive humerus with enlarged processes. Two species of C. goldmani group shrews have been recorded previously from Honduras: C. magnimanus Woodman and Timm, 1999, is endemic to the Cordillera de Montecillos, and C. goodwini Jackson, 1933, which also occurs in the Sierra Madre of southern Guatemala, has been recorded from three isolated highland regions with remnant forest in western Honduras. Morphological and morphometrical analyses of variation in the skull and postcranial skeleton within and among the three Honduran populations of C. goodwini reveal that each represents a distinct species of ...

The Sierra de Perija is the northern extension of the Cordillera Oriental of the Andes and includes part of the border between Colombia and Venezuela. The population of small-eared shrews (Mammalia, Eulipotyphla, Soricidae, Cryptotis) inhabiting the Sierra de Perija previously was known from only a single skull from an individual collected in Colombia in 1989. This specimen had been referred to alternatively as C. thomasi and C. meridensis, but a more precise definition of the known Colombian and Venezuelan species of Cryptotis has since excluded the Sierra de Perija population from any named species. The recent collection of a specimen from the Venezuelan slope of Sierra de Perija prompted us to re-evaluate the taxonomic status of this population and determine its relationship with other Andean shrews. Our examination of the available specimens revealed that they possess a unique suite of morphological and morphometrical characters, and we describe the Sierra de Perija population as a new species in the ...

The captivity journal of Charles Le Raye was first published in 1812 as a chapter in A topographical description of the state of Ohio, Indiana Territory, and Louisiana, a volume authored anonymously by “a late officer in the U. S. Army”. Le Raye was purported to be a French Canadian fur trader who, as a captive of the Sioux, had travelled across broad portions of the Missouri and Yellowstone river drainages a few years before the Lewis and Clark expedition (1804–1806), and his account of the land, its people, and its natural resources was relied upon as a primary source by generations of natural historians, geographers, and ethnographers. Based directly on descriptions of animals in the published journal, the naturalist Constantine S. Rafinesque named seven new species of North American mammals, including what are currently recognized as the mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) and a Great Plains subspecies of white-tailed deer (O. virginianus macrourus). Unfortunately, Le Raye never existed, and historical, geographical, and ethnographical evidence indicates that the journal is fraudulent. Determining the author of this work is relevant to identifying the sources used to construct it, which may help us to understand the real animals upon which Rafinesque's species are based. Traditionally, authorship of the volume was attributed to Jervis Cutler, but his role in composing the fraudulent Le Raye journal has been called into question. In this paper, I present additional evidence supporting the hypothesis that Jervis Cutler bears primary responsibility for the Le Raye journal and that he had the background, opportunity, and potential motive to author it.

In 1817, the naturalist Constantine S. Rafinesque named nine new species of mammals from the American West, indicating the recently published journal of Charles Le Raye as the primary source for his descriptions. Le Raye was purported to be a French Canadian fur trader who, as a captive of the Sioux, had traveled across broad portions of the Missouri and Yellowstone river drainages a few years before the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804–1806) traversed much of the same region. Le Raye's journal was relied upon by generations of scholars as a valuable source documenting the native peoples and natural history of the Upper Missouri River in the era just prior to European settlement. Subsequent research, however, has shown that Le Raye never existed, and his purported journal is fraudulent. Despite this, Rafinesque's creation of the names followed conventional and accepted practice at the time, and they are potentially available. Fortunately, much of the Le Raye journal was based on verifiable source...

Substrate use and locomotory behavior of mammals are typically reflected in external characteristics of the forefeet, such as the relative proportions of the digits and claws. Although skeletal anatomy of the forefeet can be more informative than external characters, skeletons remain rare in systematic collections. This is particularly true for the Myosoricinae (Eulipotyphla: Soricidae), a small clade of African shrews that includes both ambulatory forest shrews (Myosorex) and semifossorial mole shrews (Surdisorex). Most species in this subfamily have restricted distributions, and their behavior and ecology are mostly unstudied. To better understand the potential range of locomotory behavior among myosoricines, we used digital x-rays to image and facilitate measuring the forefoot skeletons of 9 species. As a gauge of potential variation, we compared them with the ambulatory talpid Uropsilus (Talpidae) and the semifossorial talpid Neurotrichus. The hand morphologies of myosoricines show a graded range of potential substrate use between ambulatory and semifossorial. Some of these shrews exhibit adaptations for increased burrowing efficiency that are similar to those seen in talpids and other mammals, such as longer, broader distal phalanges and claws and shorter, wider metacarpals and proximal and middle phalanges. They also, however, have characteristics that are distinct from talpids, such as maintenance of forefoot asymmetry and an increased emphasis of ray III.

Myosoricinae is a small clade of shrews (Mammalia, Eulipotyphla, Soricidae) that is currently restricted to the African continent. Individual species have limited distributions that are often associated with higher elevations. Although the majority of spe- cies in the subfamily are considered ambulatory in their locomotory behavior, species of the myosoricine genus Surdisorex are known to be semifossorial. To bet- ter characterize variation in locomotory behaviors among myosoricines, we calculated 32 morphological indices from skeletal measurements from nine species representing all three genera that comprise the sub- family (i.e., Congosorex, Myosorex, Surdisorex )a nd compared them to indices calculated for two species with well-documented locomotory behaviors: the ambu- latory talpid Uropsilus soricipes and the semifossorial talpid Neurotrichus gibbsii. We summarized the 22 most complete morphological variables by 1) calculating a mean percentile rank for each species and 2) using the first principal component from principal component analysis of the indices. The two methods yielded simi- lar results and indicate grades of adaptations reflecting a range of potential locomotory behaviors from ambula- tory to semifossorial that exceeds the range repre- sented by the two talpids. Morphological variation reflecting grades of increased semifossoriality among myosoricine shrews is similar in many respects to that seen for soricines, but some features are unique to the Myosoricinae. J. Morphol. 276:550-563, 2015. V C 2015

In 1826, Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire described the Sacred Shrew, Sorex religiosus [= Crocidura religiosa] from a series of 22 embalmed individuals that comprised a portion of the Italian archeologist Joseph Passalacqua’s collection of Egyptian antiquities from an ancient necropolis near Thebes, central Egypt. Living members of the species were not discovered until the beginning of the 20th century and are currently restricted to the Nile Delta region, well north of the type locality. In 1968, the type series of S. religiosus was reported lost, and in 1978, a neotype was designated from among a small collection of modern specimens in the Natural History Museum, London. Our investigations have revealed, however, that the type series is still extant. Most of the specimens used by I. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire to describe S. religiosus still form part of the Passalacqua Collection in the Ägyptisches Museum, Berlin, Germany. We summarize the taxonomic history of S. religiosus, review the history of the Passalacqua collection, and explain why the type series was thought to have been lost. We designate an appropriate lectotype from among the original syntypes of S. religiosus in the Ägyptisches Museum. Our examination of the shrew mummies in the Passalacqua collection also yielded a species previously unrecorded from either ancient or modern Egypt: Crocidura pasha Dollman, 1915. Its presence increases the number of soricid species embalmed in ancient Egypt to seven and provides additional evidence for a more diverse Egyptian shrew fauna in the archeological past. Finally, we provide details that will assist in better understanding the variety of mummification procedures used to preserve animals in ancient Egypt.

In 1826, Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire described the Sacred Shrew, Sorex religiosus [= Crocidura religiosa] from a series of 22 embalmed individuals that comprised a portion of the Italian archeologist Joseph Passalacqua's collection of Egyptian antiquities from an ancient necropolis near Thebes, central Egypt. Living members of the species were not discovered until the beginning of the 20th century and are currently restricted to the Nile Delta region, well north of the type locality. In 1968, the type series of S. religiosus was reported lost, and in 1978, a neotype was designated from among a small collection of modern specimens in the Natural History Museum, London. Our investigations have revealed, however, that the type series is still extant. Most of the specimens used by I. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire to describe S. religiosus still form part of the Passalacqua Collection in the Ägyptisches Museum, Berlin, Germany. We summarize the taxonomic history of S. religiosus, review the history of the Passalacqua collection, and explain why the type series was thought to have been lost. We designate an appropriate lectotype from among the original syntypes of S. religiosus in the Ägyptisches Museum. Our examination of the shrew mummies in the Passalacqua collection also yielded a species previously unrecorded from either ancient or modern Egypt: Crocidura pasha Dollman, 1915. Its presence increases the number of soricid species embalmed in ancient Egypt to seven and provides additional evidence for a more diverse Egyptian shrew fauna in the archeological past. Finally, we provide details that will assist in better understanding the variety of mummification procedures used to preserve animals in ancient Egypt.

There are a number of ecogeographical “rules” that describe patterns of geographical variation among organisms. The island rule predicts that populations of larger mammals on islands evolve smaller mean body size than their mainland counterparts, whereas smaller‐bodied mammals evolve larger size. Bergmann's rule predicts that populations of a species in colder climates (generally at higher latitudes) have larger mean body sizes than conspecifics in warmer climates (at lower latitudes). These two rules are rarely tested together and neither has been rigorously tested in treeshrews, a clade of small‐bodied mammals in their own order (Scandentia) broadly distributed in mainland Southeast Asia and on islands throughout much of the Sunda Shelf. The common treeshrew, Tupaia glis, is an excellent candidate for study and was used to test these two rules simultaneously for the first time in treeshrews. This species is distributed on the Malay Peninsula and several offshore islands east, west, and south of the mainland. Using craniodental dimensions as a proxy for body size, we investigated how island size, distance from the mainland, and maximum sea depth between the mainland and the islands relate to body size of 13 insular T. glis populations while also controlling for latitude and correlation among variables. We found a strong negative effect of latitude on body size in the common treeshrew, indicating the inverse of Bergmann's rule. We did not detect any overall difference in body size between the island and mainland populations. However, there was an effect of island area and maximum sea depth on body size among island populations. Although there is a strong latitudinal effect on body size, neither Bergmann's rule nor the island rule applies to the common treeshrew. The results of our analyses demonstrate the necessity of assessing multiple variables simultaneously in studies of ecogeographical rules.

The diversity and distribution of mammals in the American tropics remain incompletely known. We describe a new species of small-eared shrew (Soricidae, Cryptotis) from the Lacandona rain forest, Chiapas, southern Mexico. The new species is distinguished from other species of Cryptotis on the basis of a unique combination of pelage coloration, size, dental, cranial, postcranial, and external characters, and genetic distances. It appears most closely related to species in the Cryptotis nigrescens species group, which occurs from southern Mexico to montane regions of Colombia. This discovery is particularly remarkable because the new species is from a lowelevation habitat (approximately 90 m), whereas most shrews in the region are restricted to higher elevations, typically . 1,000 m. The only known locality for the new shrew is in one of the last areas in southern Mexico where relatively undisturbed tropical vegetation is still found. The type locality is protected by the Mexican

Small-eared shrews (Mammalia: Sorici- dae: Cryptotis), exhibit modifications of the forelimb skeleton that have been interpreted as adaptations for semifossoriality. Most species inhabit remote regions, however, and their locomotory and foraging behaviors remain mostly speculative. To better understand the morphological modifications in the absence of direct observations, we quantified variation in these species by measuring 151 individuals representing 18 species and populations of Cryptotis and two species of moles (Talpi- dae) for comparison. From our measurements, we calcu- lated 22 indices, most of which have been used previously to characterize substrate use among rodents and other taxa. We analyzed the indices using 1) aver- age percentile ranks, 2) principal components analysis, and 3) cluster analysis. From these analyses, we deter- mined that three basic modes of substrate adaptation are present within Cryptotis: 1) a primarily terrestrial mode, with species that are capable of burrowing, but lack adaptations to increase digging efficiency, 2) a semi- fossorial mode, with species whose forelimbs bones show strong muscle attachment areas and increased mechani- cal advantage, and 3) an intermediate mode. In addition to identifying new morphological characters and contrib- uting to our understanding of the functional morphology of soricids, these analyses provide additional insight into the ecology of the species of interest. J. Morphol.

The Mentawai and Batu Island groups off the west coast of Sumatra have a complicated geological and biogeographical history. The Batu Islands have shared a connection with the Sumatran ‘mainland’ during periods of lowered sea level, whereas the Mentawai Islands, despite being a similar distance from Sumatra, have remained isolated from Sumatra, and probably from the Batu Islands as well. These contrasting historical relationships to Sumatra have influenced the compositions of the respective mammalian faunas of these island groups. Treeshrews (Scandentia, Tupaiidae) from these islands have, at various times in their history, been recognized as geographically circumscribed populations of a broadly distributed Tupaia glis, subspecies, or distinct species. We used multivariate analyses of measurements from the skull and hands to compare the island populations from Siberut (Mentawai Islands) and Tanahbala (Batu Islands) with the geographically adjacent species from the southern Mentawai Islands (T. chrysogaster) and Sumatra (T. ferruginea). Results from both the skull and manus of the Siberut population show that it is most similar to T. chrysogaster, whereas the Tanahbala population is more similar to T. ferruginea, confirming predictions based on island history. These results are further corroborated by mammae counts. Based on these lines of evidence, we include the Siberut population in T. chrysogaster and the Tanahbala population in T. ferruginea. Our conclusions expand the known distributions of both the Mentawai and Sumatran species. The larger geographical range of the endangered T. chrysogaster has conservation implications for this Mentawai endemic, so populations and habitat should be re-evaluated on each of the islands it inhabits. However, until such a re-evaluation is conducted, we recommend that the IUCN Red List status of this species be changed from ‘Endangered’ to ‘Data Deficient’. Published 2013. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2014, 111, 290–304.

Among the iconic mammals of the North American West is the mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus). This species and a western subspecies of the white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus macrourus) were two of seven mammals originally named and described as new species in 1817 by Constantine S. Rafinesque. Rafinesque never saw the animals that he named. Instead, he followed the then-acceptable practice of basing his new species on animals characterized in another published work, in this case the putative journal of Charles Le Raye, a French Canadian fur trader who was said to have traversed the upper Missouri River region before the Lewis and Clark Expedition and whose journal described some of the wildlife in detail. Unlike the mule deer, whose existence has been established by generations of biologists, wildlife management professionals, and sportsmen, Le Raye and his journal have since been proven to be fraudulent. Because Rafinesque's names were published in accordance with the taxonomic conventions ...

The common treeshrew, Tupaia glis, represents a species complex with a complicated taxonomic history. It is distributed mostly south of the Isthmus of Kra on the Malay Peninsula and surrounding islands. In our recent revision of a portion of this species complex, we did not fully assess the population from Java (T. ‘‘glis’’ hypochrysa) because of our limited sample. Herein, we revisit this taxon using multivariate analyses in comparisons with T. glis, T. chrysogaster of the Mentawai Islands, and T. ferruginea from Sumatra. Analyses of both the manus and skull of Javan T. ‘‘glis’’ hypochrysa show it to be most similar to T. chrysogaster and distinct from both T. glis and T. ferruginea. Yet, the Javan population and T. chrysogaster have different mammae counts, supporting recognition of T. hypochrysa as a distinct species. The change in taxonomic status of T. hypochrysa has conservation implications for both T. glis and this Javan endemic.

Treeshrews (order Scandentia) comprise 2 families of squirrel-sized terrestrial, arboreal, and scansorial mammals distributed throughout much of tropical South and Southeast Asia. The last comprehensive taxonomic revision of treeshrews was published in 1913, and a well-supported phylogeny clarifying relationships among all currently recognized extant species within the order has only recently been published. Within the family Tupaiidae, 2 widely distributed species, the northern treeshrew, Tupaia belangeri (Wagner, 1841), and the common treeshrew, T. glis (Diard, 1820), represent a particularly vexing taxonomic complex. These 2 species are currently distinguished primarily based on their respective distributions north and south of the Isthmus of Kra on the Malay Peninsula and on their different mammae counts. This problematic species complex includes 54 published synonyms, many of which represent putative island endemics. The widespread T. glis and T. belangeri collectively comprise a monophyletic assemblage representing the sister lineage to a clade composed of the golden-bellied treeshrew, T. chrysogaster Miller, 1903 (Mentawai Islands), and the long-footed treeshrew, T. longipes (Thomas, 1893) (Borneo). As part of a morphological investigation of the T. glis–T. belangeri complex, we studied the proportions of hand bones, which have previously been shown to be useful in discriminating species of soricids (true shrews). We measured 38 variables from digital X-ray images of 148 museum study skins representing several subspecies of T. glis, T. belangeri, T. chrysogaster, and T. longipes and analyzed these data using principal components and cluster analyses. Manus proportions among these 4 species readily distinguish them, particularly in the cases of T. chrysogaster and T. longipes. We then tested the distinctiveness of several of the populations comprising T. glis and T. longipes. T. longipes longipes and T. l. salatana Lyon, 1913, are distinguishable from each other, and populations of T. ‘‘glis’’ from Bangka Island and Sumatra are distinct from those on the Malay Peninsula, supporting the recognition of T. salatana, T. discolor Lyon, 1906, and T. ferruginea Raffles, 1821 as distinct species in Indonesia. These relatively small, potentially vulnerable treeshrew populations occur in the Sundaland biodiversity hotspot and will require additional study to determine their appropriate conservation status.

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Constantine S. Rafinesque described Sorex dichrurus as a shrew in 1833, based on a specimen he found in a proprietary museum near Niagara Falls on the New York/Ontario border. The name subsequently has been ignored by the scientific community. By describing this specimen as a shrew and ascribing it to the genus Sorex, Rafinesque clearly indicated that his species should be considered a member of the taxonomic family now recognized as the Soricidae (Mammalia, Eulipotyphla). Yet, the description of the animal, and its comparison to “Gerbillus,” clearly identify it as a dipodid rodent, specifically Zapus hudsonius (Zimmermann, 1780); S. dichrurus should be treated as a junior subjective synonym of that taxon. Based on its type locality of Goat Island, New York, this name is also a junior synonym of the subspecies Z. hudsonius canadensis (Davies, 1798).

The San Bernardino shrew, Sorex obscurus parvidens Jackson, 1921, is a population inhabiting the San Bernardino and San Gabriel mountains of southern California. For the past 9 decades, this population has been considered either a subspecies of S. obscurus Merriam, 1895, S. vagrans Baird, 1857, or S. monticola Merriam, 1890; or an undifferentiated population of S. ornatus Merriam, 1895. Aside from the changing taxonomic landscape that contextualizes the genus Sorex, previous study of S. obscurus parvidens has been retarded by the perception of limited available samples (typically, fewer than 8 specimens); misinterpretation of the provenance of specimens identified as S. obscurus parvidens; misunderstanding of the type locality; and inclusion of specimens of this taxon in the type series of another species with which S. obscurus parvidens has been both contrasted and allied at different times. My investigation of S. obscurus parvidens indicates that it is a distinctive population that is morpholog...

A small series of shrews collected in Guatemala and registered in the British Museum between 1843 and 1907 includes parts of type series for three species: Corsira tropicalis Gray (1843), Sorex micrurus Tomes (1862), and Blarina tropicalis Merriam (1895). These three names are now considered equivalent, but my recent review of the specimens comprising the series indicates that they include three distinct species: Cryptotis merriami Choate (1970), Cryptotis oreoryctes Woodman (2011), and Cryptotis tropicalis (Merriam 1895). I review the taxonomic history of these specimens, provide current identifications tied directly to museum register numbers, describe how to distinguish the three species, and provide revised synonymies for these species.

Members of the Cryptotis goldmani group of small-eared shrews (Mammalia, Soricomorpha, Soricidae) represent a clade within the genus that is characterized by modifications of the forelimb that include broadened forefeet, elongated and broadened foreclaws, and massive humeri with enlarged processes. These modifications are consistent with greater adaptation to their semifossorial habits than other members of the genus. The species in this group occur discontinuously in temperate highlands from southern Tamaulipas, Mexico, to Honduras. In Guatemala, there are three species: the relatively widespread Cryptotis goodwini and two species (Cryptotis lacertosus, Cryptotis mam) endemic to highland forests in the Sierra de los Cuchumatanes of western Guatemala. Ongoing studies focusing on the relationships of variation in cranial and postcranial skeletal morphology have revealed a fourth species from remnant cloud forest in the Sierra de Yalijux, central Guatemala. In this paper, I describe this new species and characterize its morphology relative to other species in the C. goldmani group and to other species of Cryptotis in Guatemala. In addition, I summarize available details of its habitat and ecology.

The public record of Major Stephen H. Long's 1819–1820 exploration of the American north-west, Account of an expedition from Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains, compiled by Edwin James, contains valuable contributions regarding the natural landscapes, native peoples and wildlife of a mostly unexplored region of the American west compiled from the notes of some of America's foremost naturalists, and it includes the first descriptions of 67 new species. The original plan was to publish the Account in Philadelphia and London simultaneously, yet these two editions differ substantially in ways that are relevant to the taxonomic contributions in the work. It is generally assumed that the Philadelphia edition was published in early January 1823 and was available first, but little substantive evidence has been presented to support its priority over the London edition. Review of contemporary correspondence and periodicals indicates the Philadelphia edition was available and for sale on 31 December 1822, whereas the London edition was available in late February 1823. As previously assumed by most sources, the Philadelphia edition has priority of publication and is the authority for most species names. Its correct year of publication, however, is 1822 rather than 1823.

The end of the Pleistocene in North America was marked by a wave of extinctions of large mammals, with the last known appearances of many species falling between ca. 11,000–10,000 14C yr BP. Temporally, this period overlaps with the Clovis Paleoindian cultural complex (11,190–10,530 14C yr BP) and with sudden climatic changes that define the beginning of the Younger Dryas chronozone (ca. 11,000–10,000 14C yr BP), both of which have been considered as potential proximal causes of this extinction event. Radiocarbon dating of enamel and filtered bone collagen from an extinct American Mastodon (Mammut americanum) from northern Indiana, USA, by accelerator mass spectrometer yielded direct dates of 10,055 ± 40 14C yr BP and 10,032 ± 40 14C yr BP, indicating that the animal survived beyond the Clovis time period and into the late Younger Dryas. Although the late survival of this species in mid-continental North America does not remove either humans or climatic change as contributing causes for the late Pleistocene extinctions, neither Clovis hunters nor the climatic perturbations initiating the Younger Dryas chronozone were immediately responsible for driving mastodons to extinction.

While encamped for the winter of 1819–1820 at Engineer Cantonment along the Missouri River in present-day eastern Nebraska, members of Major Stephen Harriman Long's Expedition to the Rocky Mountains collected a number of animals that were previously unknown. Among the mammals were two soricids that were subsequently described by Thomas Say as Sorex brevicaudus (Northern Short-tailed Shrew, Blarina brevicauda) and Sorex parvus (Least Shrew, Cryptotis parvus). The holotypes of these species were deposited and placed on public exhibit in the Philadelphia Museum, the predominant North American systematic collection of the early nineteenth century. Like most private museums of that era, the Philadelphia Museum eventually went out of business, and its collections were dispersed and, for the most part, lost. Fortunately, Titian R. Peale made a detailed field sketch of the two specimens soon after their capture and subsequently executed a watercolor based on that sketch. In addition, an engraving of the ...