The World Conservation Union
The Shrew Site
- ITSES -
|
The World Conservation Union
The Shrew Site |
- ITSES - |
Species Newsletter of the Species Survival Commission IUCN
Number 29, December 1997 p. 43
Insectivore, Tree Shrew, and Elephant Shrew Specialist Group
Rainer Hutterer
The Insectivore, Tree Shrew, and Elephant Shrew Specialist Group is currently in the process of re-organization. At present the group has 35 members. However, more active specialists have been asked to join the group and to share their knowledge. The group has been somewhat dormant in the past but with the active participation of new and old members will hopefully become more productive again. In the past few years, some members have performed interesting and valuable research that can now be applied for conservation purposes. Because we still know little about the diversity and ecology of insectivores, tree shrews, and elephant shrews, such research is essential for conservation issues.
How Many Insectivores?
Taxonomy still plays a crucial role in the understanding of our target group of small and basically nocturnal creatures. We still do not know how many species of shrews, tenrecs, or golden moles exist in Africa or elsewhere, but certainly more than we list today. Since 1993, when I reviewed the Insectivora for Mammal Species of the World, one hedgehog, four species of tenrecs, four species of golden moles, and 22 species of shrews have been newly recognized, mainly from Africa, Asia, and South America. Shrews are especially diverse. Mieczyslaw Wolsan and I have compiled an updated list of shrews of the world, but new species from Africa and Asia still await description. Other basic research concerns the distribution and ecology of all these species.
Progress has been made in the study of African shrews. Data obtained by Julian Kerbis in Uganda and Burundi, by Justina C. Ray in Central African Republic, and by Marc Colyn and Walter Verheyen and their respective crews in Cameroon, Congo, and Congo Brazzaville have enriched our knowledge of the distributions of many species. In cooperation with Neil Burgess of the Centre for Tropical Biodiversity at Copenhagen, distribution maps for all African Soricidae are currently under preparation. We also learn from the new studies that the Central African forests harbor an hitherto underestimated diversity of endemic insectivores. Up to 16 species of shrews have been found in a small forest plot in Central African Republic.
Action Plans
Two Action Plans have been published in the past, African Insectivora and Elephant Shrews by Martin E. Nicoll and Galen B. Rathbun in 1990, and Eurasian Insectivores and Tree Shrews by R. David Stone in 1995. The main goal of the group for the next two years will be the production of a status report and Action Plan for North and South American Insectivora. Also, the proposals and conclusions presented in the previous two Action Plans must be evaluated in the light of new research data on the biology and distribution of the species.
Communications
Peter J. Stephenson, editor of the ITSES Newsletter, is currently preparing the third issue, which will enhance exchange of information between the group members.
Group member Ana Isabel Queiroz is organizing a symposium on the biology and conservation of semi-aquatic insectivores, to be held during the Euro-American Mammal Congress in Spain, July20-24, 1998. This conference may also serve as an occasion for group members to meet and to discuss future activities.
Rainer Hutterer, Chair, Insectivore, Tree Shrew and Elephant Shrew Specialist Group
African Insectivora and Elephant Shrews - An Action Plan for their Conservation. 1990.
- This is the online version of the SSC/ITSES Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan for Europe and Asia originally published as a printed version by the IUCN (1995).
- Online Version realized by W. Haberl
ITSES Chairman: Rainer Hutterer
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