Crocidura russula in Italy. Crocidura russula

The application of molecular techniques has allowed researchers to discover, split and identify many cryptic species of small mammals. Among those, the genus Crocidura (Eulipotyphla, Soricidae) includes the highest number of species (N = 196) amongst mammals. Different species are distinguished mostly according to biogeography since the morphology shows extensive interspecific overlap and provides little help. Cryptic species represent a remarkable challenge to biodiversity assessments, particularly when species identification is based only on field work, thus on morphological outer characters. In our work, we combined Species Distribution Models, and molecular analyses to confirm the occurrence of the greater white-toothed shrew, Crocidura russula, in North-West Italy. The molecular identification we did on the shrews from Liguria and Piedmont, confirmed the species’ presence in the region. Not only do our results affirm the role of Italy as an insectivorous mammal hotspot in the Mediterranean, but they also show the need to include C. russula in Italian faunal checklists, and confirm the usefulness of combining different approaches to explore the presence of cryptic species outside their known ranges – a fundamental step to informing conservation. Since the similar, smaller C. suaveolens may be displaced by competitive exclusion with the larger C. russula, a comprehensive and detailed survey is required to assess the actual biogeography of these species. Furthermore, the conservation status of Crocidura shrews should be assessed particularly in North-West Italy to adopt effective conservation measures.