Abstract
The Saharan shrewCrocidura tarfayaensis Vesmanis and Vesmanis, 1980, has a limited disribution along the Atlantic coast of Sahara, south of Agadir (Morocco) through Western Sahara into Mauritania and is only known from few captures and some owl pellets. Here we report field data from the successful trapping of five specimens ofC. tarfayaensis in the Guelmim region. The habitat was characterized by sand dunes along a river, with dense shrubberies ofTamarix sp., the huge grassErianthus ravennae (Poaceae) and flat bushes of Atriplex glauca var. ifniensis (Chenopodiaceae). Morphological discrimination withC. whitakeri were examined. The chromosomes ofC. tarfayaensis revealed a karyotype of 2n = 36, similar to that of the Canary shrewC. canariensis and the Sicilian shrewC. sicula. In conclusion,C. tarfayaensis seems to be a descendant of the presumed continental ancestor of the two island species.
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Associate Editor was Magdalena Niedziałkowska.
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Vogel, P., Mehmeti, AM., Dubey, S. et al. Habitat, morphology and karyotype of the Saharan shrewCrocidura tarfayaensis (Mammalia: Soricidae). Acta Theriol 51, 353–361 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03195182
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03195182