Small-eared shrew

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Small-eared shrews[1]
Fossil range: Late Miocene to Recent
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Soricomorpha
Family: Soricidae
Subfamily: Soricinae
Tribe: Blarinini
Genus: Cryptotis
Pomel, 1848
Species

See text.

The genus Cryptotis is a group of relatively small shrews with short ears which are usually not visible and short tails.

They are found mainly in Central America; the North American Least Shrew, C. parva, is the only species of the genus found north of Mexico. The genus occurs as far south as northern Peru and as far east as western Venezuela in South America. It is the only soricomorph genus found south of Guatemala. They are red-toothed shrews; species in this group have 30 teeth. Since 1992, Neal Woodman (in corporation with Robert Timm) at the United States National Museum has been in the process of revising the genus. To date, this has resulted in an increase of number of species from 12 in 1992 to 30 now.

[edit] List of species

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Hutterer, Rainer (2005-11-16). in Wilson, D. E., and Reeder, D. M. (eds): Mammal Species of the World, 3rd edition, Johns Hopkins University Press, 270-275. ISBN 0-801-88221-4. 
  2. ^ Cryptotis (TSN 179970). Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved on October 6, 2007.