Crocidura goliath Thomas 1906

Crocidura goliath Thomas 1906, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 7, 17: 177.

Type Locality: Cameroon, Efulen.

Vernacular Names: Goliath Shrew.

Subspecies::

Subspecies Crocidura goliath subsp. goliath Thomas 1906

Subspecies Crocidura goliath subsp. nimbasilvanus Hutterer 2003

Distribution: High forest of S Cameroon, Gabon, and Dem. Rep. Congo; an isolated population in West Africa around Mt. Nimba (Guinea, Côte d’Ivoire).

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Type species of subgenus Praesorex Thomas, 1913 . Often included in flavescens or olivieri, but apparently represents a distinct species which lives in sympatry with C. olivieri in the Central and West African rainforest; see Hutterer (in Colyn, 1986:22) and Goodman et al. (2000). C. goliath nimbasilvanus replaces Heim de Balsac's C. odorata guineensis (Ziela, Mt. Nimba, Guinea), a name preoccupied by C. occidentalis guineensis Cabrera, currently a subspecies of C. olivieri (Hutterer, 2003) . The West African population (nimbasilvanus) of C. goliath is characterized by smaller size and a shorter pelage, and is genetically distinct from the Central African population (Querouil et al., In Press).