Sinharaja White-toothed Shrew

About this species

Habitat

Regenerated secondary forest and transitional forest in the wet zone

Range

Wet-zone forests of southern Sri Lanka, three known locations

The Sinharaja white-toothed shrew, also called the Sri Lankan rain forest shrew, was described from Sri Lankan rainforest using both form and DNA. It has a shorter tail than the Sri Lankan long-tailed shrew, and most of what tells them apart is skeletal. The Sinhala word hikmiya means shrew (Wikipedia, general species account).

It lives in wet-zone forest in the south of the island and is thought to occur at only three locations. Records come mainly from Sinharaja Forest Reserve, at 460 m and 1,040 m, with others near the Peak Wilderness Sanctuary and Kanneliya Forest Reserve. It has been found in secondary forest that regrew after 1970s logging, and in forest transitional between lowland wet evergreen and tropical montane forest. Nationally Critically Endangered (Sri Lanka National Red List 2012).

Description: Wildlife of Sri Lanka guide, Wildlife of Everywhere (wildlifeofeverywhere.com); general species information paraphrased from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)