12 



P.D. JENKINS, C.J. RAXWORTHY AND R.A. NUSSBAUM 



sympatrically in parts of its range with several other species simi- 

 lar in size and external morphology, notably M. cowani and M. 

 taiva. Obvious ecological differences have yet to be determined 

 between these species, except that M. drouhardi is known from 

 higher elevations. The only Microgale species similar in size to 

 M. parvula is M. pusilla, and based on MacPhee's (1987) distribu- 

 tion summary, they are broadly sympatric over much of the eastern 

 rain forest belt (latitude 18°-21°S), although there is as yet no 

 evidence of microsympatry. 



The broad elevational and latitudinal distributions of these rain 

 forest species of Microgale are surprising in as much as M. 

 parvula was previously only known by the holotype and M. 

 fotsifotsy was unknown. Conventional small mammal traps are 

 inefficient at trapping the smaller shrew-sized mammals, which 

 fail to trigger the trap mechanism. This may explain why M. 

 fotsifotsy, and more particularly, the very small, light weight, M. 

 parvula were previously unrecorded or rarely recorded. Microgale 

 drouhardi, although more commonly collected, is only represented 

 by small series in museum collections and, following the revision 

 of MacPhee (1987) has been considered as a synonym of M. 

 cowani. One of the main reasons for this situation is that most 

 Microgale material was collected in the last century (see MacPhee, 

 1987), with modern specimens being rare in museums. The pitfall 

 trapping method that we used in this study has proved to be 

 extremely productive at sampling Microgale populations. 



Acknowledgements. We are greatly indebted to Jean Baptiste 

 Ramanamanjato, Achille Raselimanana, Angelien and Angeluc 

 Razafimanantsoa, for their assistance with this study. This research was made 

 possible through the cooperation of the Malagasy Ministere de l'Enseignement 

 Superieur, the Ministere de la Production Animale et des Eaux et Foret, and 

 the Ministere de la Recherche Scientifique et Technique pour le 

 Developpement. 



We particularly thank Steven Goodman, Field Museum of Natural History, 

 Chicago for allowing us to examine recently collected material from RNI 

 d'Andringitra and PN de la Montagne d'Ambre, which included specimens 

 of the undescribed species, and also for bringing additional specimens of this 

 undescribed species in the collection of the USNM to our attention. For their 

 kind assistance and for the loan of specimens in their care, we are grateful to 

 William Stanley and John Phelps, Division of Mammalogy, Field Museum of 

 Natural History; Phillip Myers and Jim Birch, Division of Mammalogy and 

 Gregory Schneider, Division of Herpetology, University of Michigan, Mu- 

 seum of Zoology; Michael Carleton, Marc Frank and Helen Kafka, Division 

 of Mammalogy, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C. For 

 two specimens we thank respectively, Tanya Barden and members of the 

 1993 Cambridge University expedition, Louise Ashmore, Juliet O'Keefe, 

 Matthew Thomas and Oliver Tunstall Pedoe. Maria Rutzmoser, Museum of 

 Comparative Zoology, Harvard, kindly provided information on the holotypes 

 of M. parvula and M. drouhardi. 



For their highly valued constructive comments and criticism of the manu- 

 script, we are indebted to Steven Goodman, Ross MacPhee (Department of 

 Mammalogy, American Museum of Natural History) and Darrell Siebert 

 (Department of Zoology, The Natural History Museum). 



Photographs were prepared by Phillip Hurst, Photographic Unit, The 

 Natural History Museum. 



This research was supported in part by grants from the National Science 

 Foundation (DEB 90-24505 and DEB 93-22600) and the National Geo- 

 graphic Society (5396-94). Logistic support was provided by the World Wide 

 Fund for Nature and Conservation International. 



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