Designation of the type species of Musaraneus Pomel, 1848 (Mammalia: Soricomorpha: Soricidae)

•The genus name Musaraneus often is attributed to Brisson (1762), however, most of Brisson's names are unavailable. Pomel (1848) subsequently made the name Musaraneus available, but did not designate a type species. The 18 species that Pomel listed under Musaraneus currently are distributed among five modem genera, two of which (Cryptotis Pomel, 1848 and Diplomesodon Brandt, 1852) are predated by Musaraneus. Because Cryptotis and Diplomesodon potentially could be considered junior synonyms of Musaraneus, I propose Sorex leucodon Hermann, 1780 (= Crocidura leucodon) as the type species for Musaraneus, thereby establishing Musaraneus as a junior synonym of Crocidura Wagler, 1832. The generic name Musaraneus Pomel, 1848 derives from mus araneus ("spider mouse")> one of the terms commonly used alongside sorex and mus caecus by classical Latin writers (e.g., Plinius n.d.; Columella n.d.; Serenus n.d.) to refer to small mammals now generally interpreted as shrews (family Soricidae). The classical name mus araneus has a long history of use in early zoological literature. It was adopted and used widely by Renaissance natural historians and made the transition from a Latin common name to being incorporated into more formal taxonomies. The vernacular mus araneus generally was applied to the small mammal called locally by a variety of names that included "muzeraigne," "spitzmus," "shrew," "erd shrew," or "shrew-mouse" (Gesner 1551, 1560, 1602; Marggraf 1648; Jonston 1657; Topseil 1658; Ray 1693). A number of early taxonomists attempted to establish the name as Mus Araneus or Musaraneus within heirarchical classifications (Charleton 1668; Klein 1751; Brisson 1756, 1762). It is of interest that Gesner (1551, 1560, 1602) and subsequent writers (e.g., Topsell 1658, Charleton 1668) interpreted sorex as distinct from mus araneus, in some cases as a broader category that might include mus araneus (e.g., Klein 1751), or as a separate set of animals, typified by mus avellanarum, the "haselmus" or "hasel-mouse" (Gesner 1560, Topsell 1658), or by the "rat" (Charleton 1668). Gesner's (1551, 1560, 1602) print of mus araneus is an illustration of a soricid (Fig. lA), possibly a white-toothed shrew of the genus Crocidura, whereas his picture of a sorex is identifiable as a garden dormouse (Eliomys quercinus•Fig. IB). His illustrations were copied and republished by subsequent writers (e.g., Topsell 1658) and likely influenced later interpretations of the names. In contrast, Linné (1746, 1748, 1758) explicitly and consistently applied Sorex to those mammals that previous authors had called mus araneus or Musaraneus, and Sorex Linné, 1758 is the name that survived in the taxonomic literature. Musaraneus continues to be reflected in modem words for shrew in a number of romance languages, e.g., musaraña (Spanish), musaraigne (French), musaranho (Portuguese), musaragno (Italian). It also survives, in part, in VOLUME 117, NUMBER 3 267 Fig. 1. Gesner's (1602) illustrations of (A) mus araneus and (B) mus avellanarum from Historiae Animalium. Photographs courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution Libraries, Joseph F. CuUman 3"' Library of Natural History, Washington D.C. Reproduced with permission. the scientific name for the European common shrew, Sorex araneus Linné, 1758. As a genus-level name, Musaraneus is often attributed to Brisson (1762; see Pomel 1848, Sherborn 1902, Palmer 1904, McKenna and Bell 1997, Kretzoi and Kretzoi 2000). Because Brisson (1762) did not consistently apply binomial nomenclature in his work, however, most of his names are unavailable in accordance with Article 11.4 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN 1999; but see Hopwood 1947; ICZN 1998). In a subsequent classification of insectivores, Pomel (1848) redescribed Brisson's Musaraneus as one of four genera (with Talposorex Pomel, Sorex Linneus, and Galemys Pomel) within the tribe Soriciens in his family Spalacogalae. Pomel (1848) made the name Musaraneus available, and therefore, he is the author of this name, as noted by Sherborn (1928). Hopwood (1947) recorded a number of other generic names used by Brisson (1762) that similarly were made available by later authors (see also ICZN 1998). Pomel's (1848) Musaraneus comprised 18 species distributed among three "sections" (subgenera): Cryptotis, a new taxon with a single North American species; Myosorex Gray, 1838, an existing taxon comprising three African species; and Crocidura Wagler, 1832, an existing taxon containing 14 Old World species. Based on the list of included species, the genus Musaraneus included representatives from five modern genera. In addition to those genera representing Pomel's (1848) three sections (Cryptotis, Myosorex, Crocidura), one species (Musaraneus puchellus) represents Diplomesodon Brandt, 1852, and three others (M. crassicaudatus, M. vulgaris, M. Bachmani) represent Sorex Linné, 1758. Pomel (1848) was uneven in designating species that he considered to be typical of the genera he described. In his classification of insectivores, Pomel noted a "typical species" for his newly-described Talposorex, but not for his names Galemys or Musaraneus. For these latter genera, he provided lists of species divided among several sections (subgenera). Pomel (1848) wrote the latter name as, "Genre Musaraneus Briss, 268 PROCEEDINGS OF THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON Pom.," clearly indicating the influence of Brisson (1762). It is curious, however, that his version of Musaraneus did not explicitly include any of the three "species" {Musaraneus, Musaraneus aquaticus, M. brasiliensis) that Brisson (1762) had allocated to his genus Musaraneus. Pomel (1848) may have considered Brisson's (1762) uninomial "species" Musaraneus to be represented by what Pomel called Musaraneus (Crocidura) vulgaris, which he equated with araneus of authors. The type species of Musaraneus Pomel, 1848 is important to modem taxonomists because Musaraneus Pomel, 1848 predates Cryptotis Pomel, 1848 and Diplomesodon Brandt, 1852, and Musaraneus could be interpreted as a senior synonym of one of these genera. Kretzoi and Kretzoi (2000: 241) indicated that the type species for Musaraneus Pomel is "Crocidura (M.)priscus Pomel" (sic). There are a number of important and confusing errors in their account for this name, however. Both the original description of the genus and the designation of Crocidura priscus as the type species are credited by them to "Pomel 1853," which is referenced as "Arch. Sei. Phys. Nat., Bibl. Univ. Geneve, 9: 249," but this reference is a conflation of several different publications. Pomel (1853a, 1853b) are parts of his "Catalogue des Vertébrés Fossiles," which was published in at least three sections in Annales Scientifiques, Littéraires et Industrielles de L'Auvergne: the first in October and November of 1852 (Pomel 1852), the second in March and April of 1853 (Pomel 1853a), and the last in May and June of 1853 (Pomel 1853b). Insectivores, including the description of the fossil species Musaraneus (Crocidura) priscus, appear in the first part of this work, and the correct citation for that name is Pomel (1852:351). Pomel's original description of Musaraneus is in an earlier publication (Pomel 1848) that was published in Volume 9 of Archives des Sciences Physiques et Naturelles, Genève. In order for a species to be designated a type species by a subsequent author, it must have been included in the genus by the original author (ICZN 1999: art. 69.2). However, Pomel (1848) did not include the name priscus among the species he listed under Musaraneus, as he had not yet described the species. Therefore, the selection by Kretzoi and Kretzoi (2000) is invalid. Pomel's (1848:249) original description of Musaraneus reads: Trois intermédiaires en haut, deux en bas, estomac oblong avec poche bien marquée sous le boyau pylorique. My translation of this description is: Three upper intermediary teeth, two lowers, stomach oblong with well-marked pouch below the py-