Mammals of Mount Shasta Moles and Shrews

Sorex shastensis. Shasta Shrew. [Not recognized as a new species, believed to be Sorex vagrans]

Type from Wagon Camp, Mount Shasta (alt. 5,700 ft. in the lower part of the Canadian zone). No. 95450, U.S. Nat. Mus., Biological Survey Coll. Collected Sept. 26, 1898, by W.H. Osgood. Orig. No. 317.

Characters.--Size small; decidedly smaller than S. vagrans; tail rather short; ears small, but conspicuous. Third unicuspid smaller than fourth. Skull and teeth peculiar.

Color.--Type specimen, in change from summer to winter pelage: parts dark steel gray; underparts ashy brown; tail sharply bicolor, dusky above, buffy below, becoming dusky toward tip.

Cranial characters.--Skull small, decidedly smaller than in vagrans and as small as in californicus; unicuspids decidely narrower, particularly the first and second; molariform series much as in californicus, but slightly smaller; large premolar very broad posteriorly.

Measurements.--Type: Total length, 90; tail vertebrae, 35, hind foot, 12.

Remarks.--This new species is based on a single specimen caught by W.H. Osgood in a trap set in a springy place among the Shasta firs, immediately above Wagon Camp. In the same trap, and in the identical spot, he caught also specimens of Neosorex navigator and Neurotrichus gibbsi major. Several specimens of Sorex vagrans amoenus were caught near by, but no others of this species.

Sorex shastensis is a small shrew of uncertain affinities. In several respects it resembles S. californicus, but differs from this species markedly in color, and still more in the form of the cranium and narrowness of the unicuspidate teeth.

Sorex vagrans amoenus. Sierra Shrew. [Sorex vagrans Wandering Shrew, Vagrant Shrew]

Vagrant Shrew (specimen from College of the Siskiyous)
Photographed by Debbie Harton

Twenty-two speciments of this small shrew were collected on Shasta and about its base. Two were caught among the tules at Big Spring, in Shasta Valley, on the north side of the mountain; two at Warmcastle Soda Springs, in Squaw Creek Valley, on the south side; and nineteen in the Canadian zone and lower part of the Hudsonian from Wagon Camp to upper Squaw Creek, Mud Creek, and Ash Creek. Most of them were trapped under logs in damp places.

Sorex montereyensis. Monterey Shrew.

Monterey Shrew
Drawing by W.J. Fenn

Six specimens of this large long-tail shrew were secured--one at the lower edge of the Hudsonian zone, near Mud Creek; four in the Canadian zone, in Mud Creek Canyon; and one in the Transition zone, in Squaw Creek Valley, near Warmcastle Soda Springs.

Sorex (Neosorex) navigator. White-bellied Water-shrew. [Sorex palustris Water Shrew]

Water Shrew
Photographed by Dr. Lloyd Glenn Ingles, California Academy of Sciences

Apparently rather scarce, as a large amount of trapping resulted in the capture of only four specimens. These were obtained at as many localities, namely, the head of Panther creek, upper Squaw Creek, upper Ash Creek Canyon, and Wagon Camp, all in the Canadian zone.

Neurotrichus gibbsi major. Large Shrewmole. [Neurotrichus gibbsii Shrew-mole]

Shrew-mole (specimen from College of the Siskiyous)
Photographed by Debbie Harton

Type from Carberry Ranch, Shasta County, Calif. (alt. 4,100 ft., between Mts. Shasta and Lassen). No. 65321, male ad., U.S. Nat. Mus., Biological Survey Coll. Collected May 18, 1894, by C.P. Streator. Orig. No. 3789.

Characters.--Similar to N. gibbsi, but decidedly larger; hind feet larger; forefeet much broader an dlonger; tail much longer; under parts darker; skull larger and broader; fifth upper lateral tooth (the 'large premolar') decidedly smaller than in gibbsi, and possessing a distinct anterior cusp on the cingulum, which is absent in gibbsi; fifth lower lateral tooth (the 'large premolar') decidedly larger than in gibbsi.

Measurements.--Average of 3 specimens from type locality: Total length, 120; tail vertebrae, 40; hind foot, 17. Average of 4 specimens from Mount Shasta: Total length, 113; tail vertebrae, 41; hind foot, 16.2.

Remarks.--Four specimens of this new form of Gibbs shrewmole were collected by our party on Shasta--all in the Canadian zone. Three were caught in Mud Creek canyon near the mouth of Clear Creek by Walter K. Fisher and W.H. Osgood, and one was taken at tWagon Camp by Osgood. In May, 1894, my assistant, Clark P. Streator, obtained 3 specimens (the type and cotypes) at Carberry Ranch, on the south side of Pitt River, between Mounts Shasta and Lassen. Carberry Ranch is in the upper part of the Transition zone. The Canadian zone specimens from Shasta are not quite so large, but agree in other characters.

Scapanus californicus. California Mole. [Scapanus latimanus Broad-footed Mole]

Broad-footed Mole (specimen from College of the Siskiyous)
Photographed by Debbie Harton

Vernon Bailey found a dead mole of this species, October 3, in the road between Wagon Camp and Sisson at an altitude of 4,500 feet. He reported mole ridges as common in places a little below Wagon Camp, and also in sandy soil in the Murray pine belt east of the mountain; W.H. Osgood saw mole ridges in Shasta Valley.

California Mole
Drawing by W.J. Fenn