Sorex araneus Linnaeus 1758

• Main Authors: Russell A. Mittermeier, Don E. Wilson
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Published: Lynx Edicions 2018
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Taxonomy; Animalia; Chordata; Mammalia; Soricomorpha; Soricidae; Sorex; Sorex araneus; Yakutia; Siberia
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6869605; http://treatment.plazi.org/id/3D474A54A02F8743FF28AC2615BDF7D7

16. Common Shrew Sorex araneus French: Musaraigne carrelet / German: \Waldspitzmaus / Spanish: Musarana bicolor Other common names: Eurasian Shrew, European Shrew Taxonomy. Sorex araneus Linnaeus, 1758, “ Europe.” Sorex araneus has an interesting cytogenetic characteristic, a triplet of sex chromosomes that consists of one X-chromosome and two Y-chromosomes (Y, and Y,). A few more species of red-toothed shrews that also have such a triplet of sex chromosomes are similar in structure of nDNA and mtD-NA. They are usually combined into the araneus group. Robertsonian chromosome polymorphism is very common in S. araneus, with 76 chromosome races recognized so far. Each race has its own parapatric distribution. Such a high degree of parapatric chromosomal races is a unique characteristic of S. araneus. About 50 different forms have been described, but only two can be ranked as subspecies. Two subspecies recognized. Subspecies and Distribution. S.a.araneusLinnaeus,1758—fromGreatBritainEthroughalmostallcountriesofcontinentalEuropetoCSiberia;alsoisolatedpopulationsinthePyrenees,C(Auvergne)&SEFrance,andNItaly. S. a. tomensis Ognev, 1921 — C & E Siberia E to SW Yakutia (= S.a. Republic). Descriptive notes. Head—body 56-82 mm, tail 37-52 mm, hindfoot 12-14 mm; weight 5-14-5 g (immatures 5-10 g). Subspecies tomensis is bigger than the nominotypical araneus. Adult fur of the Common Shrew is trichromatic. Back is dark brown to almost black; sides are pale brownish, often with well-defined rusty hue; and belly is light grayish to lead gray. Demarcation of sides is distinct. Young are lighter than adults, and contrasts are less obvious: back varies from brown to dark brown,sides are slightly lighter, and belly is silvery gray to light gray. Tail is sharply bicolored. Karyotypes vary from 2n = 20 to 2n = 33. X-chromosome is large metacentric, and Y-chromosome and Y,chromosome are acrocentric. In the race with 2n = 20 (only females), all 18 autosomes are metacentric. In the race with 2n = 33 (males only), there are six ...