Crocidura kornfeldi is an extinct species of shrew that inhabited Central and Southern Europe between the Pliocene and Pleistocene. It is the first species of the widespread, extremely speciose genus Crocidura known with certainty to have colonized Europe. It is a widespread, well-documented species, with fossils known from Spain, Italy, Greece, Hungary, Romania, and Crimea.[1][2][3]

Crocidura kornfeldi
Temporal range: Late Pliocene–Early Pleistocene
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Eulipotyphla
Family: Soricidae
Genus: Crocidura
Species:
C. kornfeldi
Binomial name
Crocidura kornfeldi
Kormos, 1934

C. kornfeldi went extinct early in the Pleistocene, disappearing from the Iberian Peninsula around the boundary between the Early and Middle Pleistocene,[4] possibly due to competition with newly-arriving species such as the modern greater white-toothed shrew (C. russula), lesser white-toothed shrew (C. suaveolens), and bicolored shrew (C. leucodon). However, the extant Cretan shrew (C. zimmermanni) bears a very close morphological similarity to C. kornfeldi, and for this reason may be a relict descendant of C. kornfeldi.[1]

References edit

  1. ^ a b Rofes, Juan; Cuenca-Bescós, Gloria (2011-01-01). "Evolutionary history and biogeography of the genus Crocidura (Mammalia, Soricidae) in Europe, with emphasis on Crocidura kornfeldi". Mammalian Biology. 76 (1): 64–78. doi:10.1016/j.mambio.2009.12.001. ISSN 1616-5047.
  2. ^ Lopatin, A. V.; Tesakov, A. S. (2021-11-01). "Early Pleistocene White-toothed Shrew Crocidura kornfeldi (Lipotyphla, Soricidae) from Crimea". Doklady Biological Sciences. 501 (1): 171–176. doi:10.1134/S0012496621060077. ISSN 1608-3105. PMID 34962601. S2CID 245511566.
  3. ^ "Fossilworks: Crocidura kornfeldi". www.fossilworks.org. Retrieved 2022-07-30.
  4. ^ Piñero, Pedro; Agustí, Jordi; Oms, Oriol; Blain, Hugues-Alexandre; Furió, Marc; Laplana, César; Sevilla, Paloma; Rosas, Antonio; Vallverdú, Josep (5 February 2020). "First continuous pre-Jaramillo to Jaramillo terrestrial vertebrate succession from Europe". Scientific Reports. 10 (1). doi:10.1038/s41598-020-58404-w. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 7002404. PMID 32024903. Retrieved 20 March 2024.