Bates's shrew (''Crocidura batesi'') is a species of

mammal Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...

in the family Soricidae. It is found in

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

Republic of the Congo The Republic of the Congo (french: République du Congo, ln, Republíki ya Kongó), also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply either Congo or the Congo, is a country located in the western coast of Central Africa to the w ...

Equatorial Guinea Equatorial Guinea ( es, Guinea Ecuatorial; french: Guinée équatoriale; pt, Guiné Equatorial), officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea ( es, link=no, República de Guinea Ecuatorial, french: link=no, République de Guinée équatoria ...

, and

Gabon Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north ...

. Its natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

is subtropical or tropical moist lowland

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

s. This large black shrew was first described by the British zoologist

Guy Dollman Captain John Guy Dollman BA, Linnean Society of London, FLS (4 September 1886 – 21 March 1942), known as Guy Dollman, was a British zoologist and Linnaean taxonomy, taxonomist. Dollman's tree mouse and Dollman's vlei rat are named after him. Li ...

in 1915, the type locality being the vicinity of the Como River in Gabon. The exact definition of this species is unclear; it is often included in

Fraser's musk shrew Fraser's musk shrew (''Crocidura poensis'') is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It is found in Benin, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, São Tomé and Príncipe, Sierra Leone, and Togo. Its nat ...

(''Crocidura poensis''), or reported as Wimmer's shrew (''Crocidura wimmeri''). Its

karyotype A karyotype is the general appearance of the complete set of metaphase chromosomes in the cells of a species or in an individual organism, mainly including their sizes, numbers, and shapes. Karyotyping is the process by which a karyotype is disce ...

is 2n=50, FN-76, which is identical to the Nigerian shrew (''Crocidura nigeriae''), and the species complex is in need of a thorough revision.

Distribution and habitat

The Bates's shrew is native to tropical central Africa where its range extends from southern Cameroon to most of Gabon apart from the south. It has also been reported from the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea and nearby parts of the Republic of Congo, but these sightings are debatable because of the taxonomic uncertainty surrounding it. Its habitat is primary lowland rainforest, it not being recorded from degraded habitats.

Status

The Bates's shrew is a relatively common species with a wide range and a presumed large total population. The population trend has not been evaluated but no particular threats have been recognised apart from some measure of deforestation of its forest habitat. For these reasons, the

International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

has assessed its conservation status as being of "

least concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1764134 Bates's shrew Mammals of Cameroon Mammals of Equatorial Guinea Mammals of Gabon Mammals of the Republic of the Congo Bates's shrew Taxonomy articles created by Polbot