New Species of Elephant-Shrew Discovered in Namibia

Scientists from the California Academy of Sciences have discovered a new species of elephant-shrew in the deserts of northwestern Africa. The Etendeka round-eared sengi (Macroscelides micus) is the smallest known member of the 19 sengis in the order Macroscelidea. It has a trunk-like nose. Scientists say sengis are more closely related to elephants, sea cows, and aardvarks than they are to true shrews.

Drs. Jack Dumbacher and Galen Rathbun discovered the specimen while examining sengi specimens collected from southwestern Africa. They embarked on a series of nine expeditions with research colleagues and collected 16 additional specimens. The researchers believe the tiny sengi remained hidden for so long because it is only found in a remote area of Namibia, on the inland edge of the Namib Desert at the base of the Etendeka Plateau.

Dumbacher, the Academy's Curator of Ornithology and Mammalogy, says in a statement, "Had our colleagues not collected those first invaluable specimens, we would never have realized that this was in fact a new species, since the differences between this and all other known species are very subtle. Several museum collections were instrumental in determining that what we had was truly new to science, highlighting the value of collections for this type of work. Genetically, Macroscelides micus is very different from other members of the genus and it's exciting to think that there are still areas of the world where even the mammal fauna is unknown and waiting to be explored."

A research paper on the sengi was published in the Journal of Mammalogy and can be found here. You can find out more about elephant shrews on the sengis.org website.

Photos: Galen Rathbun/Jack Dumbacher/California Academy of Sciences

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