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182 M. Masseti: Homogenisation and the loss of biodiversity of mammals of the Mediterranean islands
Figure 17 Artist’s reconstruction of the extinct dwarf elephant, 1940, von Lehmann 1961, Fons et al. 1983, Michalak
Elephas tiliensis (Theodorou et al. 2007b), of Late Pleistocene- 1983, Cheˆ tnicki et al. 2007). Albinism and white spotting
Holocene Tilos, adapted from the osteological material in the in shrews include Crocidura suaveolens, Crocidura rus-
Museum of Megalochorio (Tilos, Greece), and compared with sula and Crocidura leucodon (Pucek 1964). The light
the size of its alleged ancestor E. antiquus Falconer and Cautley colouration of the coat has been recognised as a result
1847 (drawing by Alessando Mangione). of lack of pigment in the entire hair or hair fragments,
and it appears that atypically coloured shrews occur
supposition, research was carried out several years ago more often in isolated populations whose gene transfer
by Masseti and Sara` (2003) to investigate – for the first with neighbouring populations is limited (Cheˆ tnicki et al.
time – the current composition of the non-flying mam- 2007) (Figure 18). Moreover, white tail tips do not appear
mals of Tilos, also with a view to exploring the eventual to be uncommon in shrews of the genus Sorex (Pearce
relationship with species reported for the island for the 1934, Crowcroft 1957, Corbet 1963, Corbet and Harris
previous Late Pleistocene-Holocene chronology. The 1991, Gelling 2003), but specifically as regards the rep-
outcome revealed that the extant insular non-volant resentatives of the genus Crocidura, apart from the Tilos
mammals did not differ fundamentally from those of the shrew, it is a characteristic reported to date only for the
great majority of the other Eastern Aegean islands, being circum-Sicilian endemite Crocidura sicula (Vogel et al.
almost exclusively characterised by continental taxa 1989, Masseti and Sara` 2003, Masseti 2006, 2007a).
whose appearance on Tilos appears to be directly and
essentially related to human activity (Table 2). Only the In any case, as we have already observed, the Sicilian
local lesser white-toothed shrew revealed peculiar phe- and Cretan shrews, together with the Cypriot mouse and
notypic patterns: while the external size and the colour perhaps the Kerkennah dipodil, are presumably the rel-
of its coat fall within the variability range for the species, ics, the last remnants of the late Pleistocene endemic
this shrew reveals an unexpected white tail tip (Masseti mammals that characterised the Mediterranean islands.
and Sara` 2003). Colour anomalies have been reported More specifically, Reumer (1986, 1996) observes that the
for several species of Soricomorpha (Pearce 1934, Balli Cretan shrew is a relic in two senses: firstly, it is the direct
descendant of the Pleistocene group of Crocidura spe-
cies that have disappeared from Europe and have been
replaced by the present living species; secondly, it is the
only known representative of the array of endemic
shrews that were found in most of the Mediterranean
islands during the Pleistocene. In any case, and apart
perhaps from the allometric gigantism of certain pheno-
typic characters of Mus cypriacus, it is interesting to note
that none of the aforementioned species displays the
most common trends of endemisation reputed to affect
micromammals on islands: the well known increase in
size characteristic of fossil and/or subfossil shrews and
rodents, but also documented in many of the extant pop-
ulations (Masseti 2007a). This fact, together with their
almost total absence from the Quaternary fossil horizon
Table 2 Holocene non-flying terrestrial mammals of the island of Tilos (Dodecanese, Greece) in time (from *Masseti and Sara` 2003).
Taxon Charkadiocave Charkadio cave, Present fauna
(Late Pleistocene-Holocene fauna) sub-recent fauna
Elephas tiliensis Bachmayer et al. 1976, Caloi et al. Masseti and Sara` 2003
1986, Kotsakis 1990, Symeonidis et al. 1973 Masseti and Sara` 2003
Erinaceus roumanicus Theodorou et al. 2007b Symeonidis et al. 1973 Masseti and Sara` 2003
Crocidura russula/suaveolens Symeonidis et al. 1973 Masseti and Sara` 2003
Crocidura suaveolens Bachmayer et al. 1976, Symeonidis et al. 1973 Masseti and Sara` 2003
Oryctolagus cuniculusa Caloi et al. 1986, Kotsakis 1990 Symeonidis et al. 1973 Masseti and Sara` 2003
Apodemus flavicollis/sylvaticus Total (s5)
Apodemus mystacinus Total (s6)
Rattus rattus
Mus domesticus
Vulpes vulpes
Ursus cf. arctosb
Martes foina
Total (ns12) Total (s2)
aImported in very recent times (around 1997–1998) by hunters.
bVery probably hunter trophy.
