Abstract
Blarinellini is a tribe of soricine shrews comprised of nine fossil genera and one extant genus. Blarinelline shrews were once widely distributed throughout Eurasia and North America, though only members of the Asiatic short-tailed shrew genus Blarinella currently persist (mostly in southwestern China and adjacent areas). Only three forms of Blarinella have been recognized as either species or subspecies. However, recent molecular studies indicated a strikingly deep divergence within the genus, implying the existence of a distinct genus-level lineage. We sequenced the complete mitochondrial genomes and one nuclear gene of three Asiatic short-tailed and two North American shrews and analyzed them morphometrically and morphologically. Our molecular analyses revealed that specimens ascribed to B. griselda formed two deeply diverged lineages, one a close relative to B. quadraticauda, whereas the other—comprised of topotype specimens from southern Gansu—diverged from other Blarinella in the middle Miocene (ca. 18.2 million years ago (Ma), 95% confidence interval=13.4–23.6 Ma). Although the skulls were similarly shaped in both lineages, we observed several diagnostic characteristics, including the shape of the upper P4. In consideration of the molecular and morphological evidence, we recognize B. griselda as the sole species of a new genus, namely, Pantherina gen. nov. Interestingly, some characteristics of Pantherina griselda are more similar to fossil genera, suggesting it represents an evolutionarily more primitive form than Blarinella. Recognition of this new genus sheds light on the systematics and evolutionary history of the tribe Blarinellini throughout Eurasia and North America.
Highlights
Asiatic short-tailed shrews, currently classified as species in the genus Blarinella, are small insectivorous mammals distributed mainly in central and southwestern China, adjacent Myanmar, and northern-most Vietnam
We examined the morphology of the specimens as per Jiang et al (2003), Repenning (1967), Reumer (1984), and Storch (1995), and followed their terminology for morphological descriptions
Regardless of the partitioning scheme, each of our mitochondrial datasets revealed the same relationships with similar bootstrap values (BS); only the tree partitioned by genes is presented (Figure 2)
Summary
Asiatic short-tailed shrews, currently classified as species in the genus Blarinella, are small insectivorous mammals distributed mainly in central and southwestern China, adjacent Myanmar, and northern-most Vietnam. These small- to middle-sized shrews are uniformly black or dark brown and have large incisors, heavy tooth pigmentation, and a short tail that is typically 40%–60% of the head-body length. Milne-Edwards & Milne-Edwards (1872) documented the shrew’s relatively short and somewhat square-shaped tail, well-developed incisors, and intensively dark pigmentation on the teeth This species typically has five upper unicuspids, the holotype specimen has only four (with the fifth one missing) on one side of its skull and five on the other, as discussed by Thomas (1911). Emei (Omi-San, 100 km south of Baoxing) in western Sichuan, S. quadraticauda was determined to be more closely related to the North American short-tailed shrews Blarina and Cryptotis (tribe Blarinini), than to the Old World Sorex, and assigned to its own genus Blarinella (literally “small Blarina”)
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