Macroscelides micus

Macroscelides micus (common name Etendeka round-eared sengi or Etendeka round-eared elephant shrew) is a species of elephant shrew in the family Macroscelididae. It is only found in gravel plains in the Etendeka formation of north-west Namibia.[2] Measuring about 7.3 inches (19 cm) long and weighing less than an ounce (28 grams), the species is the smallest in the elephant shrew family.[3]

Macroscelides micus

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Macroscelidea
Family: Macroscelididae
Genus: Macroscelides
Species:
M. micus
Binomial name
Macroscelides micus
Dumbacher & Rathbun, 2014
M. micus is restricted to a tiny area of Namibia.

Description

Macroscelides micus is the smallest known elephant shrew. Its body shape resembles that of a long-nosed mouse.[4] However, as a member of the superorder Afrotheria, it is actually more closely related to elephants and manatees than mice.[3] It has pink skin and red fur which helps it camouflage itself against the volcanic rocks of its environment.[3][4] It weighs less than one ounce (28 grams) and is 7.3 inches (19 cm) long, including the tail, when fully grown. M. micus has long, thin legs relative to its body.[4]

M. micus does not burrow, instead sleeping in bushes. It uses its long nose to hunt for ground insects.[4] Some elephant shrew species are known to be monogamous and mate for life.[3] It is unknown if this is the case for M. micus. The young of M. micus, which are often born as twins, are capable of running from birth.[4]

Discovery and identification
M. micus habitat in Namibia: white flagging marks an individual day-shelter

Macroscelides micus was first spotted as an unusual sample (collected in 2006) among a collection of elephant shrews stored at the California Academy of Sciences, its red fur distinguishing it from other specimens. Genetic testing suggested it was a distinct species, but additional evidence was needed to confirm the finding. Dumbacher et al. traveled to the Namib Desert nine times over a number of years where they set traps baited with peanut butter, oats, and Marmite. A total of 21 elephant shrew specimens were obtained, 15 of which belonged to the new species.[3]

In 2014, Dumbacher et al. formally described M. micus as a new species. The specific name comes from the Greek mikros, meaning small. The "Etendeka" in the common name is the native word for the mountain range where M. micus lives. The scientific team speculated the species had not previously been identified because it has a small range in a remote area that is hard to reach.[3]

Macroscelides micus is sympatric with Macroscelides flavicaudatus, but remains physically and genetically distinguishable from it. The study which first identified M. micus did not find evidence of gene flow or interbreeding between the populations. Additionally, the species live in different habitats. M. micus is found among the gravel at the bases of hills and mountains in low-lying areas of the Etendeka geological formation; M. flavicaudatus is found among sedimentary deposits in the Awahab Outliers and river valleys.[2]

M. micus does not overlap Macroscelides proboscideus geographically. A maximum likelihood analysis of four genes by computational phylogenetics indicated that M. proboscideus and M. flavicaudatus are sister species, with M. micus being less closely related.[2]

The authors also explained several limitations and confusions involving an enigmatic report of Macroscelides melanotis (Ogleby 1838), whose type specimen was not available for destructive DNA testing and had an "unnatural" appearance. Recommending M. melanotis be treated as a nomen dubium, they expressed doubt that the described characteristics were consistent with M. micus: "The reported pale, reddish brown chest color is not visible on the specimen, nor is the dunnish white abdomen or throat."[2]

gollark: Quick summary:- valid disks contain a signature file and a startup- the signature can be in the old table format or hexadecimal- only disks where the signature is valid for the code on them are executed
gollark: The relevant code:```lualocal function infect(disk_side) local mp = disk.getMountPath(disk_side) if not mp then return end local ds = fs.combine(mp, "startup") -- Find paths to startup and signature files local disk_ID = disk.getID(disk_side) local sig_file = fs.combine(mp, "signature") -- shell.run disks marked with the Brand of PotatOS -- except not actually, it's cool and uses load now if fs.exists(ds) and fs.exists(sig_file) then local code = fread(ds) local sig_raw = fread(sig_file) local sig if sig_raw:find "{" then sig = textutils.unserialise(sig_raw) else sig = unhexize(sig_raw) end disk.eject(disk_side) if verify(code, sig) then -- run code, but safely (via pcall) -- print output for debugging print "Signature Valid; PotatOS Disk Loading" local out, err = load(code, "@disk/startup", nil, external_env) if not out then printError(err) else local ok, res = pcall(out, { side = disk_side, mount_path = mp, ID = disk_ID }) if ok then print(textutils.serialise(res)) else printError(res) end end else printError "Invalid Signature!" printError "Initiating Procedure 5." end -- if they're not PotatOS'd, write it on else fwrite(ds, "shell.run 'pastebin run RM13UGFa update' -- PotatOS") endend```
gollark: <@151391317740486657> What key exactly?
gollark: <@151391317740486657> Only digitally signed ones are run unsandboxed. You cannot sign a disk without the private key or probably utterly impractical hackery.
gollark: Basically, any disk you make *will not be run unsandboxed* on a regular potatOS install.

References
  1. Rathbun, G.B. & Dumbacher, J. (2015). "Macroscelides micus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2015: e.T45434566A45436004. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2015-2.RLTS.T45434566A45436004.en.
  2. Dumbacher, J. P.; Rathbun, G. B.; Osborne, T. O.; Griffin, M. & Eiseb, S. J. (2014). "A new species of round-eared sengi (genus Macroscelides) from Namibia". Journal of Mammalogy. 95 (3): 443–454. doi:10.1644/13-MAMM-A-159.
  3. Khan, Amina (June 27, 2014). "New sengi species is related to an elephant, but small as a mouse". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 27, 2014.
  4. Zuckerman, Laura (June 27, 2014). "In Namibia, a tiny relative of the elephant". Christian Science Monitor. Reuters. Archived from the original on July 1, 2014. Retrieved June 28, 2014.
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