The Gansu shrew (''Sorex cansulus'') is a

red-toothed shrew The red-toothed shrews of the subfamily Soricinae are one of three living subfamilies of shrews, along with Crocidurinae (white-toothed shrews) and Myosoricinae (African white-toothed shrews). In addition, the family contains the extinct subfamil ...

found only in a small part of Gansu province and other adjacent areas of China. With its very limited range, it is sensitive to

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

and is listed as a "

vulnerable species A vulnerable species is a species which has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as being threatened with extinction unless the circumstances that are threatening its survival and reproduction improve. Vulnera ...

" in the Chinese ''Red List'', while the IUCN lists it as being " data deficient"

Taxonomy

The Gansu shrew was first described in 1912 by the British zoologist Oldfield Thomas, who named it ''Sorex cansulus''. It closely resembles Laxmann's shrew (''Sorex caecutiens''), a common species with a wide range, and there were doubts as to the validity of the species. However, the discovery more recently of other locations where it appears to co-exist with ''S. caecutiens'' lends support to the validity of the species.

Description

The Gansu shrew has a head-and-body length of , with a tail of . The hind foot measures . The dorsal fur is greyish-brown with buff flanks and hazel-coloured underparts. Both the fore feet and the hind feet are brownish-white. The upper side of the tail is dark brown while the underside is paler.

Distribution

The Gansu shrew is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

to the province of Gansu in central China, where it is found at altitudes between about . At one time known only from two sites in the immediate vicinity of the type locality in southern Gansu, it has since been recorded additionally from the southwestern part of the province, close to the border with

Qinghai Qinghai (; alternately romanized as Tsinghai, Ch'inghai), also known as Kokonor, is a landlocked province in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. It is the fourth largest province of China by area and has the third smallest po ...

province, and from a single location in the east of the

Tibet Autonomous Region The Tibet Autonomous Region or Xizang Autonomous Region, often shortened to Tibet or Xizang, is a province-level autonomous region of the People's Republic of China in Southwest China. It was overlayed on the traditional Tibetan regions of � ...

Status

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 nat ...

does not have enough information on this species to rate its conservation status, and has listed it as being " data deficient". It is listed as " vulnerable" in the Chinese ''Red List''.

References

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1761256 Sorex Mammals of Asia Mammals described in 1912 Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas