Shrews (Soricidae: Crocidura) from the Lesser Sunda Islands, and South-East Maluku, eastern Indonesia.

Abstract

Crocidura maxi Sody, 1936 is extremely rare in collections and nothing is recorded of its general biology. It is recorded here for the frrst time from the islands of Bali, Alor, Timor, Roti, Kai Besar and Aru. The last mentioned is the first occasion that a shrew has been recorded from an island on the Australian continental shelf. Most parous females collected, in April, May and October, were pregnant, with an average of 2.0 (1-3) foetuses, or had recently given birth. In April, reproductive condition was not tightly synchronous among females. Crocidura maxi occurs in a wide range of habitats from grassland, mixed gardens (kebun), lowland riparian or gully rainforests at or near sea level, to lowland montane forests at 1300 m altitude. These shrews frequent grass nests of Alang Alang (lmperata cylindrica), either singly or as an adult male and female pair with their young, and occur in or beneath rotting logs or fallen canopy detritus. Crocidura maxi is sexually dimorphic on the islands of Alor and Flores, and differs morphologically between the islands. The sexes differ significantly in external and skull morphology. Genetic variability within island populations of C. maxi is well within the general mammalian range. Genetic distances are also typical of those observed for conspecific mammalian populations. An isolation by distance effect, in which genetic distance correlates positively with geographic separation, did not quite reach statistical significance. The genetic observations are consistent with population fragmentation and limited migration between C. maxi populations. Croci dura brunnea pudjonica Sody, 1936 is recorded for the first time from Bali Island. Basic morphometric and genetic data are presented.