Habitat, morphology and karyotype of the Saharan shrewCrocidura tarfayaensis (Mammalia: Soricidae)

Evolutionary history and biogeography of the genus Crocidura (Mammalia, Soricidae) in Europe, with emphasis on Crocidura kornfeldi

“…The origin of this species is not clear. According to Vogel et al (2006), both C. sicula and C. canariensis originated from a North African ancestor related to the modern species C. tarfayaensis. The molecular-clock estimate made by Dubey et al (2008a) places the divergence between C. sicula and its African ancestor at roughly 4.65 Myr, right after the latter's presumed invasion of the Siculo-Maltese archipelago during the Messinian Salinity Crisis.…”

Living on the edge: Ecological and genetic connectivity of the spiny‐footed lizard, Acanthodactylus aureus, confirms the Atlantic Sahara desert as a biogeographic corridor and centre of lineage diversification

“…These environmental conditions provide continuous distributions along the area for several taxonomical groups (Brito et al., ). A number of taxa are fully or nearly endemic to the Atlantic Sahara, such as the reptiles Acanthodactylus aureus (Crochet, Geniez, & Ineich, ) and Tarentola chazaliae (Trape, Trape, & Chirio, ), and the mammals Crocidura tarfayaensis (Vogel et al., ) and Gerbillus occiduus (Ndiaye et al., ).…”

Shrews of the genus Crocidura from El Harhoura 2 (Témara, Morocco): The contribution of broken specimens to the understanding of Late Pleistocene–Holocene palaeoenvironments in North Africa

“…None of the fragments were, however, attributed to this species (data not shown). Nevertheless, the assignment of specimens to C. whitakeri and C. tarfayensis has to be interpreted with care, as sample sizes of the reference sample are small and as both are morphologically very similar (Vogel et al, 2006). However, the reference sample and the use of a geometric morphometric approach correctly discriminated these two species and previously allowed the detection of them at the El Harhoura 2 site (Cornette et al, 2015a).…”

“…russula also date from this period (Jebel Ressas, Tunisia; Mein and Pickford, 1992). During the Middle Pleistocene, the North African Crocidurinae were highly diversified (Stoetzel, 2013), with several fossil taxa (Crocidura thomasi, Crocidura maghrebiana, Crocidura marocana, Crocidura tadjerensis), as well as modern ones occurring for the first time during this period (C. whitakeri and C. tarfayensis, while C. russula was already present) and probably originating from the local C. marocana or C. maghrebiana (Hutterer, 1991;Kowalski and Rzebik-Kowalska, 1991;Aulagnier, 1992;Vogel et al, 2006;Stoetzel, 2013). The Middle to Late Pleistocene boundary is characterized by the extinction of numerous small mammal taxa, including all the fossil shrew species (Stoetzel, 2013).…”

“…Indeed, the genus Crocidura presents a conserved phenotype and for several species, both the skull and mandible or the teeth need to be carefully studied to correctly discriminate species or populations (Leroy et al, 2004;Cornette et al, 2012;Cornette et al, 2015aCornette et al, , 2015b. Consequently, misidentifications are common (Vogel et al, 2006). Currently, genetic or cytogenetic studies are often used to correctly assign specimens.…”