Researchers find 14 new species of shrews after a decade of documenting and observing Indonesian shrews on the island of Sulawesi. Crocidura, the shrew genus that includes 14 new endemic species, is a diverse group of small mammals that can be find almost anywhere on the planet.
Despite their global presence, not much is known about shrews that usually occupy the world’s mountainous and tropical regions.
Crocidura inhabits Africa and Eurasia, with the Indonesian islands being the furthest easterly point for their habitats.
Sulawesi is a relatively large, mountainous island in a tropical setting with a diverse range of habitat types that promote biodiversity.
As per the researchers, the large number of shrew species is likely due to the various elevations.
The findings were publish in the journal BioOne Complete.
Jake Esselstyn of Louisiana University and his colleagues believe there may be additional shrew species on Sulawesi that are yet to be discover, reported Daily Mail.
Researchers trekked upto 2700 metres to gather the animals, so it’s not surprising that there are shrew species at even higher elevations.
Esselstyn began capturing shrews on the island in 2010 with Anang Achmadi from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences in Cibinong, Indonesia, and quickly realise there were far too many undocument species.
Between 2010 and 2018, the researchers trap and analyse genetic and morphological data on 1,368 shrews.
Researchers hit the jackpot when they discover 21 species of shrews on Sulawesi of which only seven were previously known.
The researchers were able to separate the shrews into different species thanks to genetic information and morphological clues.
These include overall body size and several ratios, such as tail length relative to body length, skull length relative to skull width, and the length of the anterior portion of the skull relative to the posterior portion of the skull.
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