Recently, I came across some observations of South European White-toothed Shrew (Crocidura fimbriata) in Germany, a taxon I hadn’t heard of before and was sure had to be misidentifications. After some digging though, I finally understand what happened and would like to offer some suggestions.
In Europe we have several species of Crocidura shrews, one of which used to be Lesser White-toothed Shrew Crocidura suaveolens. In November 2023 C gueldenstaedtii was split from C suaveolens
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxon_changes/132346
And in December 2025 C fimbriata was split from C gueldenstaedtii
https://www.inaturalist.org/taxon_changes/167425
As a result, what used to be C. suaveolens s. l. has become fimbriata in Europe. However, this change has gone unnoticed by most observers in the region and people keep reporting C suaveolens s. s., when they should report C fimbriata.
The main reason is probably that the name changes are confusing. The English name for fimbriata is South European White-toothed Shrew, even though the range goes up to the Baltic Sea. Central European WtS seems a much more fitting name.
Even more confusingly, the German name ‘Gartenspitzmaus’ stuck with C. suaveolens s. s., which does not occur in Germany, when I it should have stuck with fimbriata, which currently does not have a German name, even though it lives here.
I imagine, similar name issues exist for other languages.
Could this be addressed by curators?
Kind regards
Mathieu