First Record of the Water Shrew, Sorex palustris 



Richardson (Insectivora: Soricidae), in Georgia 



with Comments on its Distribution and Status 



in the Southern Appalachians 



Joshua Laerm, Charles H. Wharton 

 Museum of Natural History and Institute of Ecology 



AND 



William Mark Ford 

 Daniel B. Warnell School of Forest Resources 

 University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602 



ABSTRACT— The first state record of Sorex palustris is 

 reported from Georgia, in a markedly boreal habitat in the 

 upper headwaters of the Tallulah River in Towns County. Records 

 in the southern Appalachians indicate the species to be rare 

 and its distribution characterized by a series of disjunct 

 populations. 



On 30 May 1994 one adult male water shrew (Sorex palustris 

 Richardson) was recovered from a sunken pitfall trap adjacent to 

 Mare Cove Branch at its junction with Burnt Cabin Branch, a tributary 

 of the Tallulah River in extreme northern portion of Towns County, 

 Georgia, at an elevation of 808 m. The specimen was recovered under 

 a rotting log and other woody debris immediately adjacent to the base 

 of a 25 m waterfall in rocky talus. Standard body measurements were: 

 138-64-19. This is the first record of the species from Georgia and 

 represents an extension of its range approximately 25 km southeast 

 from its nearest reported locality along a short section of Fires Creek 

 in Clay County, North Carolina, at an elevation of 1,160 m (Whitaker 

 et al. 1975) 



During the period 30 October 1993 through 30 May 1994 we 

 established a transect of 20 pitfall traps (a total of 5,420 trap nights) 

 along Burnt Cabin Branch. Pitfalls were 946 cm 3 plastic cups 

 (11-cm lip diameter and 14-cm depth) filled with approximately 

 0.13-L formalin solution and set flush to the ground adjacent to 

 fallen logs, rocks stumps, or other forest floor debris within 5 m of 

 the stream edge. Traps were checked biweekly. The collection locality, 

 which was selectively logged in the past, is a mature, predominantly 

 northern hardwood forest community dominated by yellow birch 



Brimleyana 22:47-51, June 1995 47 



