NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Obscure White-toothed Shrew
Crocidura obscurior Heim de Balsac, 1958
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
The West African pygmy shrew or obscure white-toothed shrew (Crocidura obscurior) is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It is found in Ivory Coast, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.
The Ivory Coast white-toothed shrew (C. eburnea), which is sympatric with C. obscurior in Ivory Coast, Liberia & Guinea, and closely resembles it aside from having a longer skull, was considered conspecific with C. obscurior until a 2014 study delineated both as being genetically distinct sister species to one another.
Wikipedia contributors, West African pygmy shrew; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T11:45:57.899069+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Crocidura obscurior Heim de Balsac, 1958
- Name authority
- Heim de Balsac, 1958
- Common name
- Obscure White-toothed Shrew
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Eulipotyphla
- Family
- Soricidae
- Genus
- Crocidura
- Extinction status
- Recorded extant
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classMammalia Linnaeus, 1758
- subclassTheria Parker & Haswell, 1897
- infraclassEutheria Gill, 1872
- orderEulipotyphla Waddell, Okada & Hasegawa, 1999
- familySoricidae G. Fischer, 1814
- subfamilyCrocidurinae A. Milne-Edwards, 1872
- genusCrocidura Wagler, 1832
- speciesCrocidura obscurior Heim de Balsac, 1958
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Crocidura. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Tanzanian ShrewCrocidura tansaniana Hutterer, 1986 | SoricidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Ussuri ShrewCrocidura lasiura Dobson, 1890 | SoricidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Neglected ShrewCrocidura neglecta Jentink, 1888 | SoricidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Voi ShrewCrocidura voi Osgood, 1910 | SoricidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Congo ShrewCrocidura congobelgica Hollister, 1916 | SoricidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Heather ShrewCrocidura erica Dollman, 1915 | SoricidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Javan Long-tailed White-toothed ShrewCrocidura abscondita Eselstyn, Achmadi & Maharadatunkamsi, 2014 | SoricidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Bekele's White-toothed ShrewCrocidura afeworkbekelei Lavrenchenko, Voyta & Hutterer, 2016 | SoricidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Crocidura anhuiensis H. Zang, B.W. Zhang & C. Li, 2019 | SoricidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Batak White-toothed ShrewCrocidura batakorum Hutterer, 2007 | SoricidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Crocidura brevicauda Esselstyn et al., 2021 | SoricidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Crocidura caudipilosa Esselstyn et al., 2019 | SoricidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=633652 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:ZK6Q. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.