Bull. not. Hist. Mus. Lond. (Zool.) 65(2): 155-164 



Issued 25 November 1999 



A new species of Microgale (Lipotyphla, 

 Tenrecidae) from isolated forest in 

 southwestern Madagascar. 



PAULINA D. JENKINS 



Department of Zoology, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD, United Kingdom. 



STEVEN M. GOODMAN 



Field Museum of Natural History, Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, Illinois 60605 and WWF, 

 Aires Protegees, B.P. 738, Antananarivo (101), Madagascar. 



SYNOPSIS. A new species of Microgale is described on the basis of two specimens collected in southwestern Madagascar. This 

 species occurs in the Pare National de Zombitse-Vohibasia at 780 m in dry deciduous forest and in the montane habitat of the 

 nearby Analavelona Forest at 1050 m, characterised by a mixture of eastern (humid) and western (dry) plant species. This new 

 species has several distinct cranial modifications that appear to be adaptations for living in areas with semi-xeric conditions. A 

 considerable amount of data is available from southwestern Madagascar on local climatic changes during the Holocene. The 

 biogeography of this new Microgale is examined in light of these environmental vicissitudes. 



RESUME. Une nouvelle espece de Microgale est decrite sur la base de deux specimens collectes dans le sud-ouest de 

 Madagascar. Cette espece est presente dans le Pare National de Zombitse-Vohibasi a 780 m dans les forets seches caducifoliees 

 ainsi que dans l'habitat montagneux de la Foret d' Analavelona a 1050 m, dont les plantes sont une composition d'especes de Test 

 (humide) et de l'ouest (seche). Cette nouvelle espece presente plusieurs modifications craniennes distinctes qui semblent etre le 

 resultat de 1' adaptation a des zones de conditions semi-xerophiles. Des donnees considerables sont disponibles sur la region du 

 sud-ouest de Madagascar sur les changements climatiques durant le Holocene. La biogeographie de ce nouveau Microgale est 

 examinee a la lumiere de ces vicissitudes environnementales. 



INTRODUCTION 



MATERIALS AND METHODS 



When MacPhee (1987) conducted his revision of the shrew-tenrecs 

 belonging to the genus Microgale, little recently collected material 

 was available for study and numerous taxa were represented by 

 unique or small series of specimens, often poorly preserved and/or 

 poorly prepared. MacPhee's work utilized the vast majority of 

 material available in the world's natural history museums, which 

 amounted at that time to about 120 specimens. Over the past decade 

 there has been a renaissance in field zoological studies on Madagas- 

 car, often in the context of biological inventories, and a considerable 

 amount of new small mammal material has been obtained. For 

 example, the number of recently obtained Microgale specimens is 

 many times greater than that available for MacPhee's revision. This 

 new material provides the means to clarify the relationships among 

 some named taxa, a redefinition of species limits, and the descrip- 

 tion of several new species (Jenkins 1992, 1993; Jenkins et al., 1996, 

 1997; Goodman and Jenkins, 1998). 



During field missions in southwestern Madagascar to the Vohibasia 

 Forestin early 1996 and another to the Analavelona Forest in early 1998 

 single individuals of a shrew tenrec were captured that, after compari- 

 son with the literature and reference collections at several museums, 

 could not be identified to species. Even though the animal is known 

 currently only from two specimens, one of which lacks an associated 

 skull, we feel that its unique pelage and cranial features clearly 

 distinguish it from known taxa and a description is provided below. 



All measurements are in millimeters (mm), with the exception of 

 weight which is in grams (g). Standard external measurements were 

 taken in the field and are defined as follows: 



Ear length (E): notch at base of ear to the distalmost edge of the 



pinna. 

 Head and body length (HB): tip of the nose to the distalmost point of 



the body (at base of tail). 

 Hind foot length (HF): heel to tip of the longest toe (excluding claw). 

 Tail length (TL): base of tail (at right angles to the body) to end of 



distal-most vertebra, excluding terminal hair tuft. 

 Weight (Wt): taken with a Pesola spring balance to the nearest 0.5 



grams (g). 



Cranial measurements were taken using digital calipers or using a 

 microscope measuring stage. Cranial nomenclature follows that of 

 McDowell (1958), Meester (1963) and MacPhee (1981); dental 

 nomenclature that of Mills (1966), Swindler (1976), Butler and 

 Greenwood (1979), and MacPhee (1987). Dental notations are 

 given in the text in the following manner, with premaxillary and 

 maxillary teeth denoted by upper case, mandibular teeth by lower 

 case; incisor (I/i), canine (C/c), premolar (P/p), molar (M/m); thus i3 

 refers to the third lower incisor. 



© The Natural History Museum. 1999 



