New Species Confirmed in Huangshan
Source: Xinhua Sight Weibo
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Carried out by the Huangshan Scenic Area Management Committee's Park and Garden Bureau and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Environmental Science, Anhui University, the 'Huangshan Scenic Area Wildlife Animal Observation Cooperation Project' recently achieved major progress in the research of the Crocidura genus, and two new mammal species were identified in the classification research in Huangshan Scenic Area, namely 'Anhui Crocidura' (Crocidura anhuiensis) and 'Huangshan Small Crocidura' (Crocidura huangshanensis).
The research results were published in the English version of 'Zoological Systematics' of the Fourth Issue of 2019 and the First Issue of 2020 of the Institute of Animal Taxonomy of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Researchers introduced that Crocidura belongs to the Eurasian burrowing rat order and the Crocidura family. The family is distributed in Asia, Europe and Africa, most species are concentrated in tropical and subtropical regions, living in forests, plains, hills and mountains, mainly feeding on soil insects, and also eat some plants' flowers, fruits and seeds. The Crocidura genus is similar to rats, with three types of body size: large, medium and small.
Anhui Crocidura: Small eyes; round ears; back fur is grayish-brown to black; abdomen is lighter than the back; tail is similar in color to the fur, with a length of only 76% of the head and body length, the tail is almost half exposed, with a sparse short bristly hair, the tail tip has a protruding bushy hair bundle; four limbs are half bare, pinkish; ankle joints are covered with sparse short hairs; skull is long and narrow, the first pair of frontal teeth is developed, the upper arch is obvious. Samples (6 individuals) weigh 10.52-13.51g, head and body length 60.88-78.10mm, tail length 48.34-59.24mm, forefoot length 9.20-9.87mm, hindfoot length 13.52-14.83 mm, ear length 7.74-9.24 mm, skull length 20.81-22.38mm.
Huangshan Small Crocidura: Small head; long nose; whiskers extend to the bottom of the ears; small eyes; round ears, the ear shells have obvious base hairs; fur is grayish-brown, the back is slightly black; four limbs are slender, fore and hind feet have five fingers (toes), the feet have small and fleshy protrusions, the fingers and toes are pink, half bare, ankle has sparse brown hair; tail length is about 76% of the head and body length, the color is similar to the fur, almost bare, with a small amount of long bristly hair. The skull is long and flat, without the zygomatic arch, the first pair of frontal teeth is curved and developed, the upper arch is obvious. Samples (5 individuals) weigh 4.35-7.77g, head and body length 50.45-61.97mm, tail length 39.64-45.03mm, forefoot length 6.99-8.33 mm, hindfoot length 11.84-13.82 mm, ear length 7.86-8.70 mm, skull length 16.88-17.90mm.
Researchers believe that the two new species discovered in Huangshan Scenic Area all belong to medium-sized Crocidura. The discovery of Anhui Crocidura and Huangshan Small Crocidura two new species further enriched the mammalian diversity of Huangshan Scenic Area, especially the beasts, and filled the blank in the research of Crocidura genus in the scenic area.
Great praise to the researchers!
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