106 



P.D. JENKINS AND A.L. SMITH 



Table 1 A comparison of species of Crocidura occuring in Thailand and nearby countries. 





C. hilliana 



C. attenuata 





C. fuliginosa 









Thailand 



China 



India 



Thailand 



Vietnam 



China 



Condylobasal length 



21.0-23.5 



19.8-20.7 



19.7-21.6 



22.0, 22.8 



21.3-23.4 



21.6-22.7 



mean 



22.20 



20.20 



20.23 





22.58 



22.20 



SD 



0.68 



0.38 



0.54 





0.51 



0.47 



n 



16 



8 



10 



2 



15 



4 



Upper toothrow length 



8.8-10.2 



8.7-9.4 



8.7-9.8 



10.1-10.8 



9.8-10.8 



9.7-10.7 



mean 



9.45 



9.00 



9.12 



10.42 



10.25 



10.17 



SD 



0.35 



0.23 



0.29 



0.29 



0.27 



0.35 



n 



37 



12 



17 



5 



24 



11 



Maxillary breadth at level of M 2 



6.0-7.2 



5.7-6.4 



5.8-6.5 



6.6-7.0 



6.7-7.3 



6.7-7.2 



mean 



6.57 



6.14 



6.08 



6.72 



6.96 



6.91 



SD 



0.30 



0.21 



0.19 



0.16 



0.15 



0.17 



n 



38 



12 



17 



5 



23 



11 



Interorbital breadth 



3.8-4.6 



4.2-4.8 



4.2-4.7 



4.4-4.7 



4.7-5.3 



4.7-5.2 



mean 



4.27 



4.46 



4.39 



4.55 



4.93 



4.93 



SD 



0.21 



0.19 



0.12 



0.13 



0.13 



0.19 



n 



38 



10 



15 



4 



22 



8 



Braincase breadth 



8.9-10.0 



8.5-9.5 



8.7-9.8 



9.9-10.1 



9.8-10.7 



9.9-10.6 



mean 



9.56 



9.09 



9.08 



10.00 



10.24 



10.14 



SD 



0.36 



0.34 



0.33 



0.12 



0.24 



0.26 



n 



16 



9 



11 



3 



18 



5 



Mandible length excluding I, 



10.7-12.7 



10.0-11.5 



10.1-11.2 



11.8-12.4 



11.7-13.1 



11.5-12.7 



mean 



11.35 



10.71 



10.62 



12.09 



12.36 



12.06 



SD 



0.55 



0.46 



0.42 



0.24 



0.35 



0.41 



n 



21 



13 



17 



8 



26 



11 



Mandible height 



5.2-6.3 



4.4-5.1 



4.5-5.2 



5.2-5.8 



5.4-5.9 



5.2-6.0 



mean 



5.78 



4.81 



4.65 



5.54 



5.61 



5.62 



SD 



0.28 



0.22 



0.21 



0.18 



0.16 



0.25 



n 



21 



13 



17 



9 



26 



9 



Interorbital breadth: maxillary breadth 



60.5-70.5 



68.8-77.7 



68.3-77.6 



65.7-69.7 



67.1-75.4 



68.9-73.2 



mean 



65.00 



72.36 



72.40 



67.43 



70.86 



71.09 



SD 



2.44 



2.98 



2.48 



1.66 



2.26 



1.55 



n 



38 



10 



15 



4 



22 



8 



Length of M 3 : upper toothrow length 



5.2-7.0 



6.4-6.9 



7.1-8.0 



6.8-7.9 



6.6-8.0 



6.9-8.0 



mean 



6.12 



6.67 



7.50 



7.48 



7.28 



7.34 



SD 



0.51 



0.16 



0.28 



0.42 



0.42 



0.35 



n 



34 



12 



17 



5 



24 



10 



than half of I 2 is in contact with l 1 and I 2 is one quarter 

 overlapped by P 4 ; a postentoconid ledge is present in Mj and 

 M 2 ; the talonid of M 3 is relatively complete and an entoconid, 

 entoconid ridge and talonid basin are present. 



Crocidura fuliginosa differs from C. hilliana in having a 

 moderately slender, orth-opisthodont I 1 with a smaller 

 although well developed posterolingual cingulum; Un 1 is 

 moderate in size (c half the height of I 1 and P 4 ); in contrast to 

 the condition in C. attenuata, Un 2 is only slightly smaller than 

 Un 1 and Un 3 ; the lingual region of P 4 is characteristic in 

 shape; the mesostyle of M 2 is divided into two stylar cusps 

 (see Ruedi, in press) unlike either of the other species; M 3 is 

 medium in size and the lingual basin is not compressed. The 

 mandibular dentition is similar to that of C. attenuata. In 

 particular it is readily distinguished from C. hilliana by the 

 less robust, straighter, more procumbent first lower incisor; 

 slightly over half of I 2 is in contact with l 1 ; the talonid of M 3 is 

 not reduced and an entoconid, entoconid ridge and talonid 

 basin are present. 



DISCUSSION 



It is known from the study of barn owl pellets in the British 



Isles and Africa (Glue, 1967; Andrews 1990) that prey 

 skeletal elements are subject to little breakage or digestion, 

 contrary to the case for pellets of some other avian predators. 

 Certainly there is a degree of damage to all of the crania in 

 the current sample, none of which are intact. Crania and 

 associated mandibles occur in 48%; a few specimens are 

 nearly complete showing only minimal damage to the brain- 

 case, although the braincase is broken or absent in most 

 specimens. The toothrows are complete in 87% of specimens, 

 although the teeth may be loose in their sockets, with tooth 

 loss occuring generally at the terminal molar or unicuspid 

 loci. There is little evidence of digestive erosion of crania or 

 teeth. It has therefore proved possible to take most of the 

 standard cranial measurements on sufficient of the recovered 

 crania and mandibles to obtain significant data on size 

 variation. Similarly, the dentition is well preserved so that 

 diagnostic characters are readily observed and allowing the 

 samples to be aged. Shrews of the genus Crocidura show very 

 rapid dental maturation as nestlings, teeth are fully erupted 

 shortly after leaving the nest. The dental ages appearing in 

 these samples include fully erupted dentitions with no sign of 

 tooth wear, probably representing juvenile or subadult speci- 

 mens; dentitions showing slight to moderate wear, represent- 

 ing adults; dentitions showing extreme wear, representing old 

 adults. 



