Crocidura lepidura

Descriptive notes. Head — body 90 - 112 mm, tail 60 - 84 mm, hindfoot 16 - 7 - 18 - 8 mm; weight 13 - 21 - 5 g. Condylo-incisive length 23.9 - 26: 4 mm. The Sumatran Giant White-toothed Shrew is the largest shrew in Sumatra, and is only approached in size by the slightly smaller Kinabalu White-toothed Shrew (C. baluensis) of Borneo. Blackish upperparts have relatively stiff, long hairs (7 - 9 mm on mid-dorsum). Sparse, shining, longer guard hairs give a grizzled appearance to its dorsal pelage. The contrasting midline ventral part is variable in color, from slate gray to chocolate brown. Tail is relatively long, brownish black above, and paler beneath, with short, stiff applied hairs and only a few bristles at the base of the tail. Upper surfaces of foreand hindfeet are brownish. In skull measurements the Sumatran Giant Shrew is larger than any other Sumatran Crocidura. There is a great morphological resemblance between this species and the Kinabalu White-toothed Shrew: apart from slightly smaller skull dimensions and smaller hindfeet, there is hardly any difference between the species, but they may be convergent forms, not closely related. Dentition is strong and robust. Most specimen have a bifid mesostyle on M * (and sometimes M?), a character also found in other Indomalayan shrews. Chromosomal complement has 2 n = 37 - 38 and FN = 54. It shares a polymorphic translocation of two acrocentrics with the Hutan White-toothed Shrew (C. hutanis), also of Sumatra; this is a rather unusual phenomenon in shrews.

Sumber: Soricidae