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Dear all

I was wondering if any of ye could help in anyway. A colleague of mine
is working on phylogenetics of the pygmy shrew here in Ireland and is
collaborating with colleagues in York university. He is collecting
tissue samples from extant shrew populations both from within Ireland
and also from France. On his behalf I direct the following to the group.

As yet, there are no deposits of archaeological pygmy shrew material
within the National Museum of Ireland collections. He was wondering if
any zooarchaeologist has recovered shrew material from digs within
Ireland. If so what period (if known).... the older the better!!

If there are such finds out there and the individual isagreeable, and
depending on the state of the bone material, would the individual be
open to donate some of the bone samples to his study so he could
compare (genetics) extant present day samples with archaeological
material, as he is investigating colonization event(s) of the pygmy
shrew within Ireland. We all know how impoverished Ireland is when
compared with Britain in relation to the number of 'native' mammalian
species present. Why? well that is the big question!

If you could direct the answers to me, I can forward them onto my
colleague. Thanks to all and looking forward to any reply!!

Kind regards
Ruth

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Ruth F. Carden B.Sc.(Hons)<BR>Zoology De
partment<BR>National University of Irela
nd, Dublin<BR>Belfield, Dublin 4<BR>Irel
and<BR>www.ucd.ie/zoology