Order Soricomorpha Author Wilson, Don E. Author Reeder, DeeAnn text 2005 The Johns Hopkins University Press Baltimore Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3 rd Edition), Volume 1 220 311 book chapter 0-8018-8221-4 10.5281/zenodo.7316519 Crocidura olivieri (Lesson 1827) [Crocidura] olivieri (Lesson 1827) , Manuel de Mammalogie: 121 . Type Locality: Egypt , Sakkara; the neotype designated by Corbet (1978 c :30) was collected "near Giza " . Vernacular Names: African Giant Shrew . Subspecies: : Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. olivieri Lesson 1827 Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. anchietae Bocage 1889 Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. bueae Heim de Balsac and Barloy 1966 Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. cara Dollmann 1915 Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. cinereoaenea Rüppell 1842 Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. darfurea Thomas and Hinton 1923 Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. giffardi de Winton 1898 Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. guineensis Cabrera 1903 Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. hansruppi Hutterer 1981 Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. hedenborgiana Sundevall 1843 Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. kivu Osgood 1910 Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. manni Peters 1878 Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. martiensseni Neumann 1900 Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. nyansae Neumann 1900 Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. occidentalis Pucheran 1855 Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. odorata Leconte 1857 Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. spurelli Thomas 1910 Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. sururae Heller 1910 Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. toritensis Setzer 1956 Subspecies Crocidura olivieri subsp. zuleika Dollman 1915 Distribution: Egypt ; Mauretania to Ethiopia , and southwards to N South Africa . Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc). Discussion: Crocidura olivieri is the valid and widely used name for large African shrews previously known as flavescens (which is now the valid name for a species restricted to South Africa ; see Maddalena et al., 1987 ). Chitaukali et al. (2001) recently proposed to use occidentalis instead of olivieri , which they regard as a nomen dubium , despite the neotype designation by Corbet (1978). The description of C. olivieri was based on a large mummified shrew from Ancient Egypt . The same species occurs in Egypt today (Hutterer, 1994), and there is no reason to believe that the name olivieri does not refer to the extant species. This group of giant shrews was reviewed by Heim de Balsac and Barloy (1966) . Well known subspecies names are anchietae , doriana , ferruginea , fuscosa , giffardi , guineeensis , hansruppi , hedenborgiana , kivu , manni , martiensseni , nyansae , occidentalis , odorata , spurelli , and sururae . Some of these were considered allospecies of a flavescens superspecies by Hutterer and Happold (1983) . Many authors also distinguished pale ( occidentalis , manni , spurelli ) and black ( giffardi , hedenborgiana , martiensseni , odorata ) color morphs as different species but biochemical evidence showed that they are merely color morphs of a single and highly variable species (Maddalena, 1990). Crocidura olivieri may also include zaphiri ; see Yalden et al. (1976) .