Crocidura olivieri is the valid and widely used name for large African shrews previously known as flavescens (which is now the valid name for a species restricted to South Africa; see Maddalena et al., 1987). Chitaukali et al. (2001) recently proposed to use occidentalis instead of olivieri, which they regard as a nomen dubium, despite the neotype designation by Corbet (1978). The description of C. olivieri was based on a large mummified shrew from Ancient Egypt. The same species occurs in Egypt today (Hutterer, 1994), and there is no reason to believe that the name olivieri does not refer to the extant species.

This group of giant shrews was reviewed by Heim de Balsac and Barloy (1966). Well known subspecies names are anchietae, doriana, ferruginea, fuscosa, giffardi, guineeensis, hansruppi, hedenborgiana, kivu, manni, martiensseni, nyansae, occidentalis, odorata, spurelli, and sururae. Some of these were considered allospecies of a flavescens superspecies by Hutterer and Happold (1983). Many authors also distinguished pale (occidentalis, manni, spurelli) and black (giffardi, hedenborgiana, martiensseni, odorata) color morphs as different species but biochemical evidence showed that they are merely color morphs of a single and highly variable species (Maddalena, 1990). Crocidura olivieri may also include zaphiri; see Yalden et al. (1976).