Return of the walking dead: First verified record of the shrew Crocidura leucodon (Hermann, 1780) in Hamburg, Germany

Abstract

The bicolored shrew Crocidura leucodon so far has not been reported in Hamburg with certainty. Some plausible historical records before 1920 are present; in turn, two more recent records are doubtful for different reasons. Hence, the Red List status of the species for Hamburg has to be considered uncertain (either not present, or extinct). A citizen scientist provided a specimen of an unknown shrew, an accidental catch by a snap trap, to the Centrum für Naturkunde. The specimen was caught on the 12th of September 2019 in Tatenberg, Hamburg. It was morphologically and genetically clearly determined as C. leucodon. This find represents the first confirmed record of C. leucodon for the federal state of Hamburg and increases the number of shrew species recorded in Hamburg to five. The Red List status of the species will have to be reevaluated.