Determining taxonomic status and distribution of Crocidura arispa (Mammalia: Eulipotyphla) in Turkey

Jackass White-toothed Shrew, Crocidura arispa, is one of the three shrew species in genus Crocidura found in Turkey, known from only two localities: Madenköy (Ulukışla, province of Niğde), and Çığlıkara (Elmalı, province of Antalya). No other localities were reported despite multiple field surveys conducted in Turkey. To verify the occurrence of C. arispa in Turkey, we collected 108 samples of shrew from 51 locations in different regions of Turkey, identified as belonging to Crocidura genus. 31 samples were subjected to morphological analysis only, 1 sample analysis only for molecular DNA, and 64 samples were studied by both molecular and morphological analysis methods. Only geographical coordinates were recorded for the remaining 12 samples and were used to map the distribution range. A total of 26 morphological characters, including 21 internal and 4 external characters, as well as and weight of the animals, were measured. The full sequencing of the mitochondrial DNA cyt b gene (1140 bp) from 65 Crocidura samples was performed. As a result, 52 new haplotypes were determined from Crocidura including 14 from Crocidura leucodon, 2 from Crocidura suaveolens, 34 from Crocidura gueldenstaedtii gueldenstaedtii and 2 from Crocidura gueldenstaedtii mimula. Genetic distances between mtDNA lineages (K2P) were the following: 0.1990 between C. leucodon and C. suaveolens, 0.195 between C. leucodon and C. g. gueldenstaedtii, 0.1996 between C. leucodon and C. g. mimula, 0.060 between C. suaveolens and C. g. gueldenstaedtii and 0,055 between C. g. gueldenstaedtii and C. g. mimula. Haplotype diversities (Hd) was calculated as 0.97794 for C. leucodon, 0.90000 for C. suaeolens, 0.98586 for C. g. gueldenstaedtii, and 0.98024 for C. g. mimula. The molecular analysis was based on a total of 169 haplotypes including the 52 newly discovered haplotypes, as well as 117 haplotypes from the Genbank (51 haplotypes of C. leucodon, 3 haplotypes of C. suaveolens, 42 haplotypes of C. g. gueldenstaedtii, and 21 haplotypes of C. g. mimula). For the morphological analysis, a total of 95 samples from our own collections were used. Morphological and molecular analyses confirm the presense of 3 Crocidura species in Turkey: C. leucodon, C. suaveolens ve C. gueldenstaedtii. The Anatolian samples of C. gueldenstaedtii show the characteristics of the subspecies C. g. gueldenstaedtii, and the Thrace samples have the characteristics of C. g. mimula. For the first time, the presence of C. g. mimula in Turkey was confirmed by the mtDNA analysis. The presence of the other lineage, C. arispa, could not be detected by molecular nor by morphological analysis. Morphological and molecular results obtained for C. leucodon, C. suaveolens and C. gueldenstaedtii were found to be consistent with the results given in the literature. Nevertheless, the absence of C. arispa among our samples cannot be taken as an evidence of the absence of this species in Turkey; instead more extensive investigations are required.