Pygmy Shrew Records 93 



RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 



Our survey of 13.200 trap nights yielded 10 records of Sorex 

 hoyi: one each from Cherokee. Clay, and Jackson counties and seven 

 from Macon County. Five of the Macon County records were obtained 

 at Coweeta Hydrological Laboratory. The western North Carolina sites 

 ranged in elevation from 700 m to 1,524 m in a variety of moderate to 

 mesic hardwood to mixed hardwood-pine sites. Sorex hoyi was taken 

 in a heath bald dominated by rhododendron {Rhododendron maximum): 

 cove hardwood communities dominated by yellow poplar (Liriodendron 

 tulipifera), northern red oak (Quercus rubra), white oak (Q. alba), and 

 buckeye (Aesculus octandra); moderately xeric sites dominated by white 

 oak, northern red oak, hickory (Carya spp.), chestnut oak (Q. prinus), 

 scarlet oak (Q. coccinea). and white pine (Pinus strobus); and streamside 

 communities dominated by eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) and 

 rhododendron. Standard body measurements for the 13 new North Carolina 

 specimens available to us are as follows: total body length ( x = 68.7 

 mm, range = 65.0-73.5 mm), tail length (x = 26.2 mm, range = 24.0- 

 28.4), and hind foot length (x = 8.0, range = 7.0-8.5 mm). 



The few historical collection records of this species from western 

 North Carolina probably do not necessarily reflect its rarity in the area 

 but rather inappropriate collecting methodology. In the past 10-12 years 

 significant information regarding this species has become available, 

 largely through pitfall trapping, which has been shown to be the most 

 (if not the only) effective method of collecting insectivores (Handley 

 and Kalko 1993). Trapping efforts by Harvey et al. (1991) in the southern 

 districts (Monroe and Polk counties) and Harvey et al. (1992) in the 

 northern districts (Unicoi, Johnson, and Carter counties) of the Cherokee 

 National Forest, Tennessee, have indicated S. hoyi to be widely distributed 

 but nowhere abundant. Harvey et al. (1991) reported 16 captures in 

 226,054 pitfall trap nights in a diversity of forest habitats in the southern 

 portions of the Cherokee National Forest ranging in elevation from 

 396 m to 1,122 m. Harvey et al. (1992) report 13 captures in 389,995 

 pitfall trap nights in a similar diversity of forest habitats in the northern 

 portions of the Cherokee National Forest ranging in elevation from 

 695 m to 1,524 m. Similarly, in 67,500 pitfall trap nights we have 

 recorded 72 S. hoyi from 42 localities throughout the entire Blue Ridge 

 Province of Georgia where the species is widely distributed in a variety 

 of forest habitat types, including clearcuts, early and mid-successional 

 forest stages, as well as mature stands in streamside, xeric, and mesic 

 communities at elevations ranging from 700 m to 1,372 m. In Georgia, 

 it is nowhere abundant, but is widely distributed. 



