Bull. nat. Hist. Mus. bond. (Zool.) 61(2): 103-109 



Issued 30 November 1995 



A new species of Crocidura (Insectivora: 

 Soricidae) recovered from owl pellets in 

 Thailand 



PAULINA D. JENKINS 



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



ANGELA L. SMITH 



University of Cambridge, Cambridge 



Synopsis. A new species of Crocidura (white-toothed shrew) is described from owl pellets from Loei Province, 

 Thailand. The craniodental morphology is compared with that of similar sized species of Crocidura recorded from 

 Thailand. 



INTRODUCTION 



A recent survey of bat roosts and owl pellets in Thailand by 

 one of us (ALS) and Mark F Robinson has increased knowl- 

 edge of the small mammal fauna of the area. Contained in the 

 owl pellets were skulls of 38 species of small mammals, 

 including an unknown species of Crocidura. This undescribed 

 species has sufficiently distinctive cranial and dental charac- 

 ters to warrant its description on the basis of these features 

 alone, although the external characters remain unknown. 



MATERIALS AND METHODS 



Regurgitated pellets were collected from roosting sites of 

 barn owls (Tyto alba [Scopoli, 1769]) at several localities in 

 Thailand. The pellets were dissected and the contents, usu- 

 ally incomplete crania and mandibles, were identified as far 

 as possible in the field. Voucher specimens were sent to The 

 Natural History Museum for confirmation of identification. 

 Included among these specimens was a series of Crocidura 

 which was proving difficult to identify and was thought to 

 include two species, C attenuata Milne-Edwards, 1872 and C. 

 fuliginosa (Blyth, 1855). 



Measurements, in millimetres, were taken using dial cali- 

 pers or a micrometer eyepiece and measuring stage on a 

 microscope. Cranial and dental nomenclature follows that of 

 Meester (1963), Mills (1966), Swindler (1976) and Butler & 

 Greenwood (1979). Abbreviations for the dental nomencla- 

 ture are given in the text. 



RESULTS 



Crocidura hit liana sp. nov. 



Holotype. BM(NH)1994.90, collector's number 467. Cra- 

 nium with damaged braincase, left mandibular ramus, com- 



plete maxillary and mandibular dentition. Extracted from an 

 owl pellet from a roost at Wat Tham Maho Lan, Ban Nong 

 Hin, 48 km south of Loei, Loei Province, northeastern 

 Thailand, 17°06'N 101°53'E, altitude 575m. 



Paratypes. Eighteen specimens of crania with mandibles 

 and thirteen specimens of crania only, all from owl pellets at 

 the same locality as the holotype. Three specimens of crania 

 with mandibles and five specimens of crania only from Wat 

 Tham Pha Phu, 7 km north of Loei, Loei Province, 17°34'N 

 101°42'E, altitude 542m. 



Diagnosis 



Zygomatic process of maxilla broad and angular, interorbital 

 region narrow; coronoid process broad and deep. Upper and 

 lower first incisors robust, first upper unicuspid large and 

 broad relative to the other unicuspids, talonid of the third 

 lower molar (M 3 ) reduced to a single cusp. 



Description 



Overlapping in cranial size with medium to large specimens 

 of Crocidura attenuata and smaller specimens of C fuliginosa 

 but differing from both species in proportions (see Table 1 

 and Figs 1-6). Cranium and mandible robust; cranium angu- 

 lar in appearance, especially in dorsal view. The rostrum is 

 moderately deep and obliquely sloping anteriorly; the maxil- 

 lary region is broad, the zygomatic process of the maxilla is 

 broad and angular; the interorbital region is long and narrow, 

 its width increasing only slightly from anterior to posterior; 

 the zygomatic plate is positioned above the first upper molar 

 (M 1 ) and the anterior of the second upper molar (M 2 ), its 

 posterior face is semi-circular and deeper than the anterior 

 face; the braincase is angular, with pronounced angular 

 superior articular facets in dorsal view, a squamosal crest is 

 present and lambdoid crests are well developed, meeting at 

 an acute angle at the midline. The horizontal ramus of the 

 mandible is moderately robust; the coronoid process is broad 

 and deep (see Fig. 4); the ascending ramus is long and low; 

 the condyle is nearly as broad or broader than deep (ratio of 



©The Natural History Museum, 1995 



