NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Desert Musk Shrew
Crocidura smithii Thomas, 1895
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 desert musk shrew (Crocidura smithii) is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It is found in Ethiopia, Senegal, and possibly Somalia. Its natural habitat is dry savanna. First described in 1895 by Oldfield Thomas, it was named after the 19th-century American explorer of Eastern Africa, Arthur Donaldson Smith, who collected the type specimen.
Wikipedia contributors, Desert musk shrew; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T08:08:26.619147+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Crocidura smithii Thomas, 1895
- Name authority
- Thomas, 1895
- Common name
- Desert Musk 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 smithii Thomas, 1895
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=633678 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:ZK7N. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.