A NEW SPECIES OF M1CROGALE 



11 



of altitudinal variation. Variation may, however, be present but 

 obscured by the small sample size from individual localities. 



Comparisons. Microgale pusilla Major, 1 896b is the only species 

 with which M. parvula is likely to be confused because of similari- 

 ties in size. The two species differ in coloration: M. parvula is dark 

 grey brown dorsally, grading into grey ventrally, with a dark grey tail 

 which is only slightly paler ventrally: in contrast, M. pusilla is 

 reddish buffy brown dorsally, with a moderately abrupt transition to 

 the buffy grey brown venter and with the tail darker grey brown 

 above than below. Although the skull of both species is of a similar 

 length (see Table 6), the skull proportions differ considerably and, in 

 particular the braincase of M. parvula is shallower than that of M. 

 pusilla and the occipital condyles are more postero-dorsally aligned 

 (see Fig. 9 and Jenkins, 1988: Fig. 1). The major dental difference 

 between the two species is that p2 has a single root in M. pusilla but 

 is double rooted in M. parvula. 



DISCUSSION 



Fig. 10 Top: left permanent anterior dentition of Microgale parvula 

 (FMNH 151623) buccal view of I1-P2 above, buccal view of il-p2 

 below. Below: deciduous left anterior dentition of Microgale parvula, 

 buccal view of dIl-dP2 (FMNH 151806) above, buccal view of dil-dp2 

 (FMNH 151622) below. Lower right: lingual view of right m3 (FMNH 

 151622). Scale =1 mm. 



Purely on a phenetic basis, MacPhee (1987) grouped the species of 

 Microgale into six species 'clusters', as follows: 



cowani cluster: M. cowani, M. thomasi, M. parvula. Species 

 considered by MacPhee to be synonyms of M. cowani, but subse- 

 quently removed from synonymy, namely M. taiva (see Jenkins et 

 al., 1996) and M. drouhardi (this paper) continue to be assigned to 

 this group. 



gracilis cluster: M. gracilis 



longicaudata cluster: M. longicaudata, M. principula 



pusilla cluster: M. pusilla 



brevicaudata cluster: M. brevicaudata 



dobsoni cluster: M. dobsoni. M. talazaci 



Of those species described after MacPhee"s revision, Microgale 

 dryas Jenkins ( 1 992) was considered to group with members of both 

 the cowani and gracilis clusters, while the unusual dentition of M. 

 soricoides Jenkins, 1993, was believed to be sufficiently distinct to 

 merit a separate cluster. Because of its greater resemblance in 

 craniodental morphology and proportions to M. soricoides rather 

 than any other species, M. fotsifotsy is placed in the soricoides 

 cluster. 



Surprisingly, although Microgale fotsifotsy represents a new spe- 

 cies, the distribution of this shrew tenrec extends through almost the 

 entire length of the rain forest belt (from latitude 12°-24°S) in 

 Madagascar. It has been collected from six different regions: 

 Montagned'Ambre, Marojejy.Ambatovaky, Zahamena,Andringitra 

 and Marosohy Forest, near RNI Andohahela (Anosy Mountains). 

 The elevational range for this species is 600- 1400m, suggesting that 

 it is primarily restricted to mid-altitude rain forest. Because trapping 

 in lower elevations at Ambatovoky, Zahamena and the Anosy Moun- 

 tains (as well as other sites) did not yield further examples of M. 

 fotsifotsy, we conclude that this species is absent from forest below 

 600m altitude. 



The habits of this species remain largely unknown; most captures 

 so far have been made with pitfall traps in primary rain forest, 

 demonstrating that it is active on the forest floor. One specimen, 

 however, was found on top of a shelter 1.5m above the ground, 

 suggesting that it may also be partly arboreal. This view is supported 

 by morphological features such as the relatively long tail and 

 elongated hind foot with a long fifth digit, adaptations which are 

 associated with arboreality in Soricidae (Hutterer, 1985) and occur 

 in a more extreme form in another species of shrew tenrec, M. 

 longicaudata, (see Thomas, 1918) a species for which there is some 

 behavioural evidence of arboreal adaptation (CR personal observa- 

 tion; Goodman, personal communication). 



Microgale drouhardi and M. parvula are also widely distributed 

 in the rain forest regions of Madagascar. Both occur as far north 

 as Montagne d'Ambre (latitude 12°S) and as far south as 

 Andringitra (22°S) forM. drouhardi, and Manantantely, Vohimena 

 Mountains (25°S) for M. parvula. Microgale drouhardi has one of 

 the largest elevational ranges known for the genus, from 360- 

 2350m. The only other species with a similar elevational range is 

 M. talazaci Major, 1896a which occurs from 100m (Raxworthy, 

 unpublished) to about 2300m (Albignac, 1970). Microgale 

 drouhardi, M. talazaci (and M. cowani, Goodman personal com- 

 munication) appear to be the most montane Microgale known. 

 The elevational range of M. parvula is also large, between 100- 

 1550m altitude. None of these species of Microgale are specialists 

 of a single elevational zone, having been collected from low, mid 

 and even montane evergreen forest. Microgale drouhardi occurs 



