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The Asian house shrew (''Suncus murinus'') grey musk shrew, Asian musk shrew, or money shrew is a widespread, adaptable species of shrew found mainly in South Asia but introduced widely throughout Asia and eastern Africa. It is a large shrew with a strong musk smell. It is related to the Etruscan shrew. This species is locally called ''chuchunder'' in India and is mentioned in Rudyard Kipling's ''Jungle Book'', as a nocturnal inhabitant of houses in India, by the name of ''chuchundra''. However, Kipling's mistaken use of the name 'musk rat' has led to confusion with the unrelated North American muskrat (''Ondatra zibethicus''), and the latter species, not found in India, was (erroneously) illustrated in the ''Jungle Book''. This house shrew is categorized as a species of Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. It is also considered an invasive species and implicated in the demise of several island lizard species. ==Distribution== ''Suncus murinus'' has a wide distribution throughout the Old World Tropics. In most of its range, it was introduced by man. According to Burton and Burton, it was originally native to the forests of India.〔Maurice Burton, Robert Burton, ''International Wildlife Encyclopedia''”, New York 2002 pp.1709–1710. Available on (Google Books ).〕 It has been introduced by man to Sri Lanka, eastern Africa, Madagascar, islands in the Indian Ocean (Reunion, Comoros), Pacific Ocean (Guam, etc.), South-east Asia, China, southern Japan, Malaysia (Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah, Sarawak), Kalimantan, Brunei, Indonesia, New Guinea, and throughout Iran and Arabia to Egypt and Pakistan also. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Asian house shrew」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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