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Desert shrew
Notiosorex crawfordi
NatureServe conservation status
Global (G-rank): G4
State (S-rank): S2
External links
Species range
This species is known from three localities. Two of these are in Washington County: Oak Creek Canyon, Zion National Park, Washington County (Wauer 1965) and an unknown locality "within 10 miles of St. George" but apparently within Utah (Turkowski and Brown 1969). The third locality is in Garfield County: 3.4 km northeast of The Post, Capitol Reef National Park (Hoddenbach 1978). These localities are at the northern limit of the range for this species (see map in Armstrong and Jones 1972). Because this species is difficult to detect, the range is often assumed to be larger than available records would suggest. Hall (1981) predictively mapped the range to include all of extreme southern Utah (southern Washington, Kane, and San Juan counties) (see map in Hall 1981), though it has not yet been documented to occur in either Kane or San Juan counties. Hoddenbach (1978) expected that the range could extend north into Emery County on the basis of climate and geography.
Habitat
Wauer (1965) reported one specimen found on a lawn bordered by Gambel's oak (Quercus gambellii) and big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata). Hoddenbach (1978) captured an individual "at an elevation of 1,520 m" and "[t]he capture site, about 3 m above a flood plain, is in a semi-arid, Atriplex (shadscale)-dominated community
Ecology
Crawford’s gray shrew is a habitat generalist, or at least moderately so. Its habitats range from hot desert scrub to montane ponderosa pine forest and from xeric to hydric settings. Elevationally, it occurs from near sea level to at least 2,438 m, possibly to 2,618 m. Its natural diet consists of a wide variety of arthropods. In captivity it has accepted other foods such as the flesh of vertebrates and, surprisingly, dry cracked corn.
Threats or limiting factors
Alterations and degradation of its habitats are likely the greatest threats to this species. Fire is probably among these. The spread of invasive, nonnative annual grasses, especially bromes, could be threats, but this has not been studied. One of the greatest impediments to the management and conservation of this species is the lack of basic information concerning it, and this could be considered a threat.
