Diplomesodon sonnerati

From Deloche & Ly-Tio-Fane (2010) Chapter 4: " On the Indian monsoons; [and] productions of the Coromandel coast ", p. 111, after describing the ubiquitous house or musk shrew Suncus murinus (Linnaeus) and its offensive scent: One sometimes encounters with these rats musqués 1 a particular species that has all the characters of a shrew, but it does not generate a smell of musk; it is also larger, shiny black with a white band on the middle of the body. From Chapter 13, " New items relating to natural history ", p. 314, Sonnerat's diagnosis and comparison: This shrew is five and a half inches 2 [149 mm] from the head to the base of the tail; the tail is one inch one line [29 mm] in length; the eyes are almost imperceptible and appear only as two little black points. It is entirely a handsome black, with a transverse white band across the middle of the body; all its fur is silky; the female is smaller and has the same transverse white band, but all that is black in the male is a clear grey in the female. This shrew has the shape and all the characters of the rat musqué, but it never inhabits houses like it does, nor does it give off any musky smell; it is also larger; it stays hidden during the day in holes and only appears at night to seek food; I found it in fields a few leagues 1 from Pondicherry. The text around the sketch adds ' 5 toes' written next to both front and rear legs, ' two longer incisor teeth' against the upper jaw, ' ditto' (i. e., the same) against the lower jaw, and the drawing itself shows large protruding incisors in both jaws, all features typical of shrews — i. e. there is no question that Sonnerat's animal was indeed a shrew. The tail is shown as stout and stubby, similar to that of Diplomesodon pulchellum. The rest of the text by the sketch reprises the edited version of the description. Sonnerat's very adequate diagnosis is, together with his illustration, sufficient without further embellishment to establish this animal as a species new to science which I am naming Diplomesodon sonnerati sp. nov. It is distinguished from all shrews, apart from D. pulchellum, by the white dorsal patch, and from D. pulchellum by its much larger size, sexual dimorphism, saddle-shaped white patch (not elongated along the back), and dark (not white) underparts.