COMPARISONS: Crocidura mediocris is one of the smallest species on Sulawesi, easily distinguished on body size alone from all species outside the Small-Bodied Group (fig. 10). Crocidura normalis is the smallest member of the Ordinary Group and may be closely related to C. mediocris and C. parva, also of the Small-Bodied Group (figs. 5, 7). Compared to C. normalis, C. mediocris is smaller, paler colored, and has a shorter tail (fig. 10; table 2). Among the Small-Bodied species, C. mediocris has the shortest average head-and-body length. Its tail is also short, and relative tail length is comparable to C. baletei, greater than in C. levicula, C. tenebrosa, and C. parva, and only slightly less than in C. lea (fig. 9). In color, the feet of C. mediocris are darker than those of C. lea. Aside from the relative tail-length differences, C. mediocris is similar to C. levicula in overall proportions but differs in having a longer and slightly narrower skull (table 8), paler pelage and feet, more rounded hypothenar on the hind foot (fig. 29), and on average, fewer tail bristles. Crocidura mediocris is also paler than both C. tenebrosa (fig. 27 C) and C. parva (fig. 29 C). In cranial proportions, C. mediocris has a greater average condyloincisive length than C. levicula and C. parva, but is comparable in this regard to C. lea, C. baletei, and C. tenebrosa (table 8). The length of the rostrum, relative to skull length (RL / CIL), is greater on average than in C. lea, C. levicula, and C. parva (fig. 10). The relative breadth of the braincase (BB / CIL) is greater than in C. lea and slightly more than in C. parva, but less than in the other Small- Bodied species. In morphometric space, a bivariate plot of condyloincisive length versus braincase breadth shows that C. mediocris occupies a widthto-length ratio between the narrow C. lea and C. parva and the wide C. levicula, C. baletei, and C. tenebrosa (fig. 26 A). A PCA of cranial dimensions shows that specimens of C. mediocris occupy moderately distinct morphometric space, overlapping primarily with individuals of C. lea and C. parva (fig. 26 A).
Sumber: Fourteen New, Endemic Species Of Shrew (Genus Crocidura) From Sulawesi Reveal A Spectacular Island Radiation