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| Sri Lanka shrew | |
|---|---|
| Name | Sri Lanka shrew |
| Genus | Crocidura |
| Species | fuliginosa |
| Authority | (Waterhouse, 1838) |
Sri Lanka shrew is a small insectivorous mammal in the genus Crocidura native to Sri Lanka and adjacent parts of southern India. This species is part of the order Eulipotyphla and the family Soricidae, and it has been the subject of taxonomic reviews by researchers associated with institutions such as the Natural History Museum, London, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Linnean Society of London. Historical records of specimens link collections from the British Museum to expeditions sponsored by the Royal Geographical Society and catalogued during the era of East India Company natural history surveys.
Crocidura fuliginosa was described in the 19th century by George Robert Waterhouse and later treated in revisions by taxonomists connected with the Zoological Society of London, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Indian Museum. Molecular phylogenetic work published in journals associated with the Royal Society and the American Genetic Association employed mitochondrial markers used in studies by teams at University of Cambridge, Harvard University, and Columbia University to resolve relationships among Asian Crocidura. Etymologically, the genus name Crocidura derives from Classical Greek roots used by early naturalists influenced by the nomenclatural practices codified at the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature and followed by taxonomists at institutions like the Natural History Museum of Geneva and the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris.
The Sri Lanka shrew is characterized by a small, gracile body typical of shrews catalogued in the collections of the Field Museum of Natural History and the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution. Morphological descriptions compare cranial measurements to specimens from the British Museum (Natural History) and trait databases curated at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. External features, pelage coloration, and dentition have been illustrated in monographs issued by the Zoological Survey of India, the Ceylon Journal of Science, and contributors to the Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club.
The species occurs across lowland and montane zones of Sri Lanka and has been reported in adjoining regions of southern India as documented by biogeographers at the University of Colombo, University of Peradeniya, and the University of Calcutta. Distribution maps in surveys by the World Wildlife Fund and the International Union for Conservation of Nature link occurrence records to ecoregions described by the United Nations Environment Programme and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Habitat associations include wet zone forests, plantations, and secondary growth cited in field guides published by the Wildlife Conservation Society, the BirdLife International country profiles, and regional checklists prepared by the Bombay Natural History Society.
As an insectivore, the Sri Lanka shrew preys on arthropods recorded in studies by entomologists at the Natural History Museum, London, the Royal Entomological Society, and the Entomological Society of India. Behavioral observations align with mesic-forest small-mammal research conducted by teams at the Tropical Ecology Assessment and Monitoring Network, the Center for Tropical Forest Science, and universities such as Yale University and Stanford University. Trophic interactions with predators are contextualized by conservation reports from the IUCN Species Survival Commission and ecosystem assessments by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization for South Asian biodiversity hotspots.
Reproductive biology has been inferred from captive and field studies analogous to those reported by mammalogists at the Zoological Society of London, the American Society of Mammalogists, and the British Mammal Society. Litter sizes, breeding seasonality, and life expectancy parameters are compared with data in faunal surveys from the Zoological Survey of India, the Sri Lanka Wildlife Conservation Society, and academic theses from University of Oxford and University of Edinburgh researchers specializing in small mammal life history.
Assessment of conservation status has been undertaken by the IUCN Red List process and regional conservation agencies including the Department of Wildlife Conservation (Sri Lanka), the Ministry of Environment (Sri Lanka), and India's Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. Threats cited in reports by the Convention on Biological Diversity, the World Bank, and Conservation International include habitat loss from agriculture, plantation expansion linked to commodities traded through markets in Colombo, and fragmentation documented by satellite analyses from the European Space Agency and NASA. Protected area coverage references parks managed under statutes like those administered by the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation (Nepal) for comparative policy frameworks.
Human interactions involve occurrence in agroforestry landscapes, conflicts noted in community outreach led by NGOs such as the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the Wildlife Trust of India, and the WWF-India. Public awareness initiatives have been promoted through partnerships with the National Geographic Society, the BBC Natural History Unit, and educational programs run by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. Museum displays and natural history outreach featuring shrews have been organized by the Natural History Museum, London, the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History, and regional centers like the National Museum of Sri Lanka.
Category:Crocidura Category:Mammals of Sri Lanka Category:Fauna of South Asia