Broad-clawed shrews of the Cryptotis goldmani group (Mammalia: Eulipotyphla: Soricidae) are discontinuously distributed in temperate highlands from southern Tamaulipas, Mexico, to Honduras. The group represents a clade within the small-eared shrews (genus Cryptotis Pomel, 1848) that is characterized by modifications of the forelimb, including broadened fore-feet, elongated and broadened fore-claws, and a massive humerus with enlarged processes. Two species of C. goldmani group shrews have been recorded previously from Honduras: C. magnimanus Woodman and Timm, 1999, is endemic to the Cordillera de Montecillos, and C. goodwini Jackson, 1933, which also occurs in the Sierra Madre of southern Guatemala, has been recorded from three isolated highland regions with remnant forest in western Honduras. Morphological and morphometrical analyses of variation in the skull and postcranial skeleton within and among the three Honduran populations of C. goodwini reveal that each represents a distinct species of broad-clawed shrew. These are described herein as three new species of the C. goldmani group: Cryptotis celaque, Cryptotis mccarthyi, and Cryptotis cavatorculus, and their locomotory ability and substrate use are characterized relative to other small-eared shrews.
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15 November 2015
Morphological Variation among Broad-Clawed Shrews (Mammalia: Eulipotyphla: Soricidae: Cryptotis Pomel, 1848) from Highlands of Western Honduras, with Descriptions of Three New Cryptic Species
Neal Woodman
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Annals of Carnegie Museum
Vol. 83 • No. 2
November 2015
Vol. 83 • No. 2
November 2015
Blarinini
Central America
humerus
Insectivora
locomotion
manus
postcranial anatomy