Range of the Long-Clawed Shrew Sorex unguiculatus and Its Status in Shrew Taxocenes of Northeast Asia

Abstract

Semi-fossorial Sorex unguiculatus is a common shrew species in the central part of Northeast Asia, and this paper is devoted to elucidating its status in shrew taxocenes within the entire specified range. The configuration of the modern range of the long-clawed shrew differs from the generally accepted one, and its formation occurred through distribution from two Late Pleistocene refugiums—mainland and island. According to the status of the long-clawed shrew in the taxocenes, three areas were distinguished: this species is a dominant in low-species insular taxocenes, a subdominant in multispecies taxocenes of coniferous–broad-leaved forests of the Ussuri Territory, and a minor one in the zone of interpenetration of nemoral and taiga vegetation of the left-bank part of the Lower Amur Region. The further northwestern expansion of the long-clawed shrew is unlikely due to the specific requirements of this species for the type and structure of soils, which change significantly under the conditions of the appearance of permafrost, and coexistence with an ecologically similar species—the flat-skulled shrew.