DISTRIBUTIONAL RECORDS OF SHREWS (MAMMALIA, SORICOMORPHA, SORICIDAE) FROM NORTHERN CENTRAL AMERICA WITH THE FIRST RECORD OF SOREX FROM HONDURAS

Short term surveys for small mammals in Guatemala and Honduras during 1992-2009 provided important new records for 12 taxa of shrews from 24 localities. These locality records expand the known geographic distributions for live species and for the genus Sorex Linnaeus, 1758: the geographic range of Cryptotis goodwini Jackson, 1933, now includes the Sierra de las Minas, Guatemala, and several isolated highlands in western Honduras; the known distribution of Cryptotis mayensis (Merriam, 1901) is increased with the first definite modern record for this shrew from Guatemala; Cryptotis merriami Choate, 1970, is now known to occur in the Sierra de las Minas and the Sierra del Merendon, Guatemala, as well as the isolated Sierra de Omoa and Montana de La Muralla in Honduras, and its documented elevational range (600-1720 m) is expanded; records of Sorer veraepacis Alston, 1877, expand the known distribution of this species to include the Sierra de Yalijux, Guatemala; and discovery of Sorex salvini Merriam, 1897, at Celaque, Honduras (1825-3110 m), represents a considerable extension of the geographic range of the species, and it is the first record of the genus Sorer from Honduras. In addition, the first record of potential syntopy among C. goodwini, C. merriami, and Cryptotis orophilus (J.A. Allen, 1895), is reported at an elevation of 1430 in in the Sierra de Celaque, Honduras. Information associated with these records contributes substantially to knowledge of habitat use, elevational distributions, reproductive patterns, diet, and parasites of the species encountered. General patterns include the first evidence that Neotropical species of soricids have smaller litters than their temperate congeners.