Additional Notes an Some Mammals From Eastern Nebraska

Northwestern Naturalist, 2005

Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Science, 1986

Although information on shrews of Indiana was summarized by , the pygmy shrew, Sorex hoyi, and smoky shrew, Sorex fumeus, were not discovered in Harrison County in southern Indiana until the former work was in press. Cudmore and Whitaker (1984) used pitfall trapping to determine the distributions of these two species in the state. The two had similar ranges, occurring from Perry, Harrison and Clark counties along the Ohio River north to Monroe, Brown and Bartholomew counties (5. hoyi ranging into extreme SE Owen County). This is essentially the unglaciated "hill country" of south central Indiana where S. fumeus and S. hoyi occur on wooded slopes whereas S. longirostris inhabits bottomland woods (Whitaker & Cudmore, in preparation).

Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science (1903-), 1966

Canadian Journal of Zoology, 2011

are characterized by divergent karyotypes and are genetically distinct. Blarina species are similar morphologically but, in most cases, can be distinguished morphometrically. Blarina distributions tend to be parapatric along well-defined contact zones; however, it has been suggested that the northern short-tailed shrew (Blarina brevicauda (Say, 1823)) and Elliot's short-tailed shrew (Blarina hylophaga Elliot, 1899) occur sympatrically in Iowa and Missouri. To evaluate this possibility, 179 specimens were collected in southwestern Iowa and northwestern Missouri. Karyotypes and total length were used for field identification, and amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) analysis was used to verify field identifications and to investigate the extent of hybridization. One hundred seventyeight of 179 specimens were identified to species. The one exception had a karyotype of B. brevicauda (2n = 50, FN = 48); however, AFLP analysis indicated that this individual was likely an F1 hybrid. No backcrosses were detected, so it appears that introgression is minimal. The putative hybrid was trapped at a locality with B. brevicauda just north of a locality having only B. hylophaga. No locality contained both species. Therefore, these species are not broadly sympatric as has been suggested, but rather exhibit a distribution similar to the pattern of parapatry seen in most of the contact zones of Blarina. Résumé : Les musaraignes à queue courte (du genre Blarina Gray, 1838) se caractérisent par des caryotypes divergents et sont génétiquement distinctes. Les espèces de Blarina sont semblables morphologiquement, mais dans la plupart des cas, la morphométrie permet de les distinguer. Les répartitions des Blarina ont tendance à être parapatriques le long de zones de contact bien définies; on croit néanmoins que la grande musaraigne à queue courte (Blarina brevicauda (Say, 1823)) et la musaraigne à queue courte d'Elliot (Blarina hylophaga Elliot, 1899) se retrouvent en sympatrie en Iowa et au Missouri. Afin de vérifier cette possibilité, nous avons récolté 179 spécimens dans le sud-ouest de l'Iowa et le nord-ouest du Missouri. Les caryotypes et la longueur totale nous ont servi pour les identifications de terrain et une analyse du polymorphisme des longueurs des segments amplifiés (AFLP) a permis de confirmer les identifications de terrain et de déterminer l'importance de l'hybridation. Des 179 spécimens, 178 ont été identifiés à l'espèce. La seule exception avait un caryotype de B. brevicauda (2n = 50, FN = 48); cependant l'analyse de ALFP indique que cet individu est vraisemblablement un hybride de F1. Comme il n'y a aucune indication de rétrocroisement, l'introgression semble minimale. L'hybride putatif a été piégé dans une localité contenant B. brevicauda située juste au nord d'une localité où vit seulement B. hylophaga. Aucune localité ne contient les deux espèces. Les deux espèces ne possèdent donc pas une importante zone de sympatrie, comme on le croyait; ils ont plutôt une répartition parapatrique du type observé dans la plupart des zones de contact de Blarina. [Traduit par la Rédaction]

Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences and Affiliated Societies

Information on the distribution and current status of 25 species or subspecies of mammals occurring in Nebraska are presented. The species covered include one shrew, an armadillo, eight bats, 10 rodents (including two subspecies of one species), three carnivores, and one artiodactyl. Distributional information reported includes the first state record for one species (Sorex nanus) and new county records for 18 species. In Nebraska, we know that mammals are shifting their geographic ranges with some extending populations into the state, whereas others are expanding their geographic ranges within the state. The current status of six additional mammalian taxa in Nebraska is documented, providing knowledge important to the conservation of these species during this time of shifting environmental conditions. The concern is that some mammals have suffered population declines since the 1940s and may have a contracting geographic range as well in the state. These species would be endangered a...

1983

Introduction The presence of the Smoky Shrew, Sorex fumeus, and the Pygmy Shrew, Microsorex hoyi, in Indiana was first documented by Caldwell, Smith and Whitaker (1982). The presence in Indiana of these species was suspected based on the continuous nature of the physiographic ecological region from northern Kentucky to southern Indiana. Microsorex occurs from Alaska through Canada and into the United States as far south as Colorado and Georgia (Diersing 1980). Sorex fumeus occurs from southeastern Canada through the northeastern United States to the mountains of Georgia and west across two-thirds of Kentucky (Hall 1981, Caldwell and Bryan 1982). The ranges of the two species overlap extensively in the eastern United States.

2011

Notes, 2006

We analyzed shrew community data from 398,832 pitfall trapnights at 303 sites across the upper Piedmont, Blue Ridge, northern Ridge and Valley, southern Ridge and Valley, Cumberland Plateau and Allegheny Mountains and Plateau sections of the central and southern Appalachian Mountains from Alabama to Pennsylvania. The objectives of our research were to describe regional species distributions and to identify macro-environmental factors important to shrews at both the community and individual species scales. Our study documented the presence of nine species with a low of three in the southern Ridge and Valley section to a high of eight in the Blue Ridge section where the Appalachian, Austral and Boreomontane fauna elements converge. Region-wide, shrew species richness was related to increasing elevation and was higher in mesic forest types than in xeric types. Conformity to expected distribution of shrew bodysize (small, medium and large) appropriate for the central and southern Appalachian species pool showed no relationship to elevation gradients. However, xeric forest types conformed to a balanced assemblage of size classes less than expected. Among individual species, presence of masked shrew (Jbrex cinere~s) and smoky shrew (SorexJgme~rrs) was associated strongly with increasing elevation and mesic forests, whereas presence of southeastern shrew (Sorex htlgirost7atis) and southern short-tailed shrew (Bhrdna camhensis) showed an opposite trend with elevation and forest type. The strong relationships we documented between presence of these four species with elevation and forest type facilitated reliable predictive habitat modeling. Conversely , the presence of pygmy shrew (Sorex hoyt) and northern short-tailed shrew (BLarina brevica~da) was not linked to forest type and only weakly linked to increasing elevation. Our analyses failed to produce meaningful relationshps about extreme habitat specialists documented by our survey, the rock shrew (Sorex dj)ar) associated with colluvial talus, the water shrew (Sorex palastn's) associated with high-gradient streams, and the least shrew (Cyjtootis pama) associated with oldfields and early sucessional habitats.

Journal of Mammalogy, 2005

We captured, marked, and recaptured southern short-tailed shrews (Blarina carolinensis) during a 30-month livetrapping study in a woodlot in Jackson County, Illinois, to compare aspects of their life history with those of the northern short-tailed shrew (B. brevicauda). A total of 106,496 trap checks (15,782 trap nights) resulted in 3,430 captures of 313 B. carolinensis from February 1996 through August 1998. Trapping mortality was only 18 individuals. Sex ratio did not differ from 1:1. Estimated population density peaked at 57 individuals/ha in late summer and autumn then declined during winter. Recruitment, including birth and immigration, peaked in spring and late summer each year. Individuals entering the population in the spring and early summer had higher survival rates than those entering in the autumn. A weak correlation was found between recruitment and precipitation, and between population density and humidity. Shrew activity (timing of captures) showed significant relationships with light condition and season. During summer, shrews were caught more frequently at night. In the winter, they were captured more frequently during the day. Capture rate was negatively related to precipitation and positively related to humidity. Population dynamics and activity patterns were similar to those of B. brevicauda.

Journal of Mammalogy, 1982