A new species of Crocidura from Nigeria (Mammalia: I nsecti vora) R. Hutterer Zoologisches Forschungsinstitut und Museum Alexander Koenig, Adenauerallee 150-164, D 5300 Bonn, Germany P. D. Jenkins Department of Zoology, British Museum (Natural History), Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD Introduction During July and August 1978, Dr Andrew Demeter, Zoologist of the Hungarian Natural History Museum at Budapest, collected a large series of owl pellets in the Yankari Game Reserve in Northern Nigeria (see Demeter 1980 for details and a map of the reserve). The owl pellets contained skulls of about 120 Soricidae, which are now under study by the first author. Among them is a series of thirteen skulls of a remarkable new species of shrew, for which we propose the name Crocidura yankariensis n. sp. HOLOTYPE. Skull of a young adult specimen with occipital region missing, left and right mandibles present, removed from owl pellets collected by Andrew Demeter on 7 August 1978 at Futuk (950'N 1055'E), 16 km E. of the Yankari Game Reserve boundary, Bauchi State, Nigeria; collectors number 32, holotype deposited in the Natural History Museum Budapest, No. HNHM 80. 1 . 1 . PARATYPES. A further nine skulls from Futuk, all data as for the holotype, collectors numbers 30, 31, 33, 36, 44, 47, 51, 54, 55; three skulls from Wikki (945'N 1030'E), a village in the center of the Yankari Game Reserve (see map in Demeter 1980), collected on 25 July and 11 August 1978 by Andrew Demeter; collectors numbers 67, 99, 100. Part of this material will be deposited in the British Museum (Natural History), London, and the Zoologisches Forschungsinstitut and Museum Alexander Koenig, Bonn. DIAGNOSIS. A small shrew of the genus Crocidura, with condyloincisive length 18-19 mm, interorbital constriction fairly narrow, braincase broad, the superior articular facet with a markedly angular crest. The first and second upper incisors and the fourth upper premolar large and heavy, third lower molar minute. Parastyle of the fourth upper premolar absent, but cingulum well developed. First upper molar with a subsidiary cusp. Proto-and metaconid of the first lower molar united. DESCRIPTION OF TYPE SERIES. Thirteen crania, three left and two right mandibles are avail-able. Dental and cranial nomenclature follows Meester (1963), except for the mandibular dentition, for which nomenclature was adapted from Butler & Greenwood (1979). Skull (Figs 1-3) General construction flat and broad. In the few skulls with intact brain-cases the breadth of braincase is about 45% of condyloincisive length. Dorsal surface slightly convex, forming a somewhat domed braincase. Superior articular facet of braincase with a well developed angular crest. Interorbital constriction long and narrow. Zygomatic process of the maxillary well developed, its posterior aligned with the middle of the second upper molar, rarely with junction between the first and second upper molars. Mandible without Bull. Br. Mus. nat. Hist. (Zool.) 39 (5) : 305-3 1 Issued 1 8 December 1 980
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