Integrative taxonomy resolves a new West African Crocidura (Mammalia: Soricidae) species, cryptic to Crocidura grandiceps in color, but distinct in size

This dataset contains the digitized treatments in Plazi based on the original journal article Voet, Inessa, Delapré, Arnaud, Denys, Christiane, Lalis, Aude, Cornette, Raphaël, Nicolas, Violaine (2026): Integrative taxonomy resolves a new West African Crocidura (Mammalia: Soricidae) species, cryptic to Crocidura grandiceps in color, but distinct in size. European Journal of Taxonomy 1039: 297-322, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2026.1039.3197, URL: europeanjournaloftaxonomy.eu/index.php/ejt/article/download/3197/14195 Abstract.

High species richness in tropical West Africa has been demonstrated for many species groups, among which shrews are no exception. Within the Crocidura poensis species complex, six species are currently described and recognized in West Africa, but a recent study suggested the existence of an additional cryptic species based on dorsal skull morphology. Here, an integrative approach combining the complete mitochondrial genome, eight nuclear markers, external morphology and geometric morphometrics methods on the skull and mandible of the C. poensis species complex distributed across West Africa is used to test the validity of the new candidate species.