Item talk:Q144387

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 modern 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.