Condylura cristata (Insectivora: Talpidae) 

 in the Blue Ridge Province 

 of Western South Carolina 



Joshua Laerm 



Museum of Natural History, University of Georgia, 



Athens, Georgia 30602 



Gayle Livingston, Christine Spencer, and Bryan Stuart 



Highlands Biological Station 



Highlands, North Carolina 28741 



The occurrence of Condylura cristata in western South Carolina 

 is questionable. Hall and Kelson (1959) and Hall (1981) mapped the 

 distribution of C. cristata to include northwestern South Carolina, provid- 

 ing as a marginal record a reference to Penny (1950:83) who, in turn, 

 citing Burnett (1851), places it on record from "Upper South Carolina." 

 Golley (1966:48), on the other hand, did not concur with Hall and 

 Kelson (1959). He cites "Pickens (1928) [who] states Burnett (1851) 

 lists the species from Aiken County." Lee (1987:57), in a very thorough 

 review of all distributional records of C. cristata in the southeastern 

 United States, alludes to the "Upper South Carolina" record as "probably 

 from Burnett (1851) who wrote on the fauna of the Pine Barrens of 

 Upper South Carolina. Thus, the record is from the Aiken County 

 area." Curiously, Penny (1950), Pickens (1928), and Lee (1987) all 

 misinterpret Burnett (1851). Pickens (1928:157) actually comments "Burnett 

 says he observed it at Aiken just below the fall line, the southern 

 boundary of the Piedmont." A careful reading of the Burnett reference 

 indicates this not the case. In fact, there is no geographic reference 

 whatsoever in the 1851 Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural 

 History other than the introductory sentence (page 115) "Dr. Burnett 

 read some notes on the Fauna of the Pine Barrens of upper South 

 Carolina." Immediately following was a list of mammals observed, 

 including C. cristata. In the text Burnett does refer twice to the "pine 

 barren region" (Burnett, 1851:115, 116), but makes no further allusion 

 to locality. Even an approximate locality for the Burnett observation 

 is impossible, given the considerable extent of the upper South Carolina 

 Pine Barrens in 1851. 



Thus, until now, no records of C. cristata are known from the 

 mountains of western South Carolina. We report here on the capture 

 of a single male specimen taken in a 5-gallon pitfall trap at the United 

 States Department of Agriculture Walhalla Fish Hatchery, Oconee County, 

 at 1.5 road miles north along the Fish Hatchery access road from 



Brimleyana 24:46-49, April 1997 46 



