Bailey's Brown-toothed Shrew

About this species

Size

Head and body 6.3–8.1cm; tail 6–7.6cm

Habitat

Montane forest at 1,567–2,682m

Range

Southern Tibet, north-eastern India, northern Myanmar and northern Vietnam

Bailey's brown-toothed shrew is a large Episoriculus with dark brown to slate-grey upperparts washed with black and a lighter brown underside. Its head and body measure 6.3–8.1 cm and the short-haired tail 6–7.6 cm, or about 85–100% of body length. A robust first upper incisor, long muzzle and upper tooth row, large tympanic ring and high lower-jaw ramus distinguish it from related brown-toothed shrews (Motokawa & Lin 2005; Handbook of the Mammals of the World 2018).

The species inhabits montane forest from about 1,567 to 2,682 m across southern Tibet, north-eastern India, northern Myanmar and northern Vietnam. In Vietnam it has been documented near Fan Si Pan in Sa Pa District, Lao Cai Province. Its taxonomic history is complicated: it was sometimes merged with the white-tailed brown-toothed shrew, but morphological review supported species rank, and later molecular work continued to recognise a distinct baileyi lineage while noting limited nuclear data (Motokawa & Lin 2005; Abramov et al. 2017).

Description: Wildlife of Vietnam guide, Wildlife of Everywhere (wildlifeofeverywhere.com)