Christmas Island shrew
species of mammal
The Christmas Island shrew (Crocidura trichura), also known as the Christmas Island musk-shrew, is an extinct species of shrew from Christmas Island. It was variously placed as subspecies of the Asian gray shrew (Crocidura attenuata) or the Southeast Asian shrew (Crocidura fuliginosa), but morphological differences and the great distances between the distribution of these species indicate that the Christmas Island shrew was a distinct species.
Description
The Christmas Island shrew, like other members of the genus Crocidura, is a small short-legged mammal with a distinct pointed muzzle. It has a dark grey to reddish brown colouring. Like all other shrews, the Christmas Island shrew resembles a mouse, and weighs between 4.5–6 g (0.16–0.21 oz). The Christmas Island shrew varies from other forms of the species in that it is beset with long fine hairs, and its tail is much greater in length. The typical lifespan for its genus is approximately one year, but Crocidurine shrews have been reported to live for up to two years in the wild.
Habitat
The Christmas Island shrew was a terrestrial animal that occupied tall plateau rainforests with deep soil, as well as the shallow soil of terrace rainforests. It remains unknown if the species could live in secondary growth. This shrew fed primarily on small beetles and used holes in rocks and tree roots for shelter.
“Christmas Island shrew” enters the record as species of mammal. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Christmas, Island and shrew can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Christmas Island shrew” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Christmas, Island and shrew provides the most credible route into that argument.
Stable identifiers, scientific names and standards terminology offer the best bridge between this overview and specialist evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 28, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q383709. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
A general summary may omit uncertainty, sample limits or methodological disagreement that is explicit in the technical record. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Check terminology, classification and the date of the cited evidence. Scientific names and technical consensus can change while older records retain historical value.
- Current terminology
- Classification context
- Finding cited technical literature
Primary datasets, specimen catalogues, standards bodies and the most recent peer-reviewed literature.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Christmas Island shrew”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Christmas Island shrew primary sources, Christmas Island shrew archive and Christmas research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Christmas Island shrew”?
- Is the terminology current, historical or disputed?
- Has classification or technical consensus changed since the cited source?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Christmas Island shrew” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.