Nectogale elegans Milne-Edwards 1870

178.

Elegant Water Shrew

Nectogale elegans

French: Nectogale élégant / German: Gebirgsbachspitzmaus / Spanish: Musgano elegante

Other common names: \Veb-footed Water Shrew

Taxonomy. Nectogale elegans Milne-Edwards, 1870,

Moupin (= Baoxing), Sichuan, China.

Nectogale elegans includes sikhimensis from Sikkim as a synonym. Monotypic.

Distribution. Himalayas including E Nepal, NE India, and Bhutan, C & W China (Shaanxi, Sichuan, SE Tibet [= Xizang], and Yunnan), and N Myanmar.

Descriptive notes. Head-body 99-125 mm, tail 96-115 mm, hindfoot 23-32 mm. No specific data are available for body weight. Condylo-incisive lengths are 23-9-27-1 mm, and tooth rows are 10-6-12-2 mm. Dorsal pelage is nearly black, with scattered whitetipped guard hairs especially on rump. Ventral pelage is white. Dorsum and venter are sharply bicolored. Forefeet and hindfeet are webbed to bases of terminal phalanges, and their edges have fringes of stiff flattened hairs. Disk-like pads on forefeet and hindfeet serve as adhesive disks for climbing. Tail is equipped with one dorsal, two ventral, and two lateral keels of short stiff hairs. Eyes are very small, c.1 mm in diameter, and covered by skin. External ears are completely reduced so that only slim openings can be traced. Breadth of skull is larger than species of Chimarrogale, Neomys, and Sorex, and braincaseis flattened. Morphology of male reproductive tract is not specialized and similar to those of species of Suncus and Crocidura. Cusps of teeth are unpigmented. There are three upper unicuspids. Dental formulais13/2,C1/0,P1/1,M 3/3 (x2) = 28.

Habitat. Cold streams and rivers at middle to high elevations (1500-3900 m). Where the Elegant Water Shrew and the Himalayan Water Shrew (Chimarrogale himalayica) are sympatrically distributed in south-western China, the Elegant Water Shrew tends to inhabit lower elevations.

Food and Feeding. Elegant Water Shrews have been recorded foraging for aquatic invertebrates and small fish. It is assumed that they feed on terrestrial and aquatic invertebrates and fish.

Breeding. No information.

Activity patterns. The Elegant Water Shrew is active day and night. It is semi-aquatic and has been observed walking along the water’s edge; it is especially good at swimming and diving into water.

Movements, Home range and Social organization. No information.

Status and Conservation. Classified as Least Concern on The IUCN Red List. The Elegant Water Shrew has a wide distribution. There are no data regarding population size and trends or conservation threats.

Bibliography. Hoffmann (1987), Hutterer (1985), Smith & Yan Xie (2008), de Winton & Styan (1899).