Myosoricinae

Myosoricinae
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Soricomorpha
Family:	Soricidae
Subfamily:	Myosoricinae Kretzoi, 1965
Genera
Congosorex Myosorex Surdisorex

According to the current taxonomy, Myosoricinae is a subfamily of shrews. As such, they form one of three main types of shrew, the other two being the red-toothed shrews and the white-toothed shrews. They are the only one of the three to be found exclusively south of the Sahara Desert, and accordingly they have been described in English as the African shrews, but there are also many white-toothed shrews in Africa and accordingly this term is more generally used for shrews from Africa in general.^[1] The subfamily has 3 genera and 20 species:

• Subfamily Myosoricinae
  • Genus Congosorex - Congo shrews
    • Phillips's Shrew, Congosorex phillipsorum
    • Greater Congo Shrew, Congosorex polli
    • Lesser Congo Shrew, Congosorex verheyeni
  • Genus Myosorex - forest and mouse shrews
    • Babault's Mouse Shrew, Myosorex babaulti
    • Montane Mouse Shrew, Myosorex blarina
    • Dark-footed Mouse Shrew, Myosorex cafer
    • Eisentraut's Mouse Shrew, Myosorex eisentrauti
    • Geata Mouse Shrew, Myosorex geata
    • Nyika Mouse Shrew, Myosorex gnoskei
    • Kihaule's Mouse Shrew, Myosorex kihaulei
    • Long-tailed Forest Shrew, Myosorex longicaudatus
    • Oku Mouse Shrew, Myosorex okuensis
    • Rumpi Mouse Shrew, Myosorex rumpii
    • Schaller's Mouse Shrew, Myosorex schalleri
    • Sclater's Mouse Shrew, Myosorex sclateri
    • Thin Mouse Shrew, Myosorex tenuis
    • Forest Shrew, Myosorex varius
    • Kilimanjaro Mouse Shrew, Myosorex zinki
  • Genus Surdisorex - African mole shrews
    • Aberdare Mole Shrew, Surdisorex norae
    • Mt. Kenya Mole Shrew, Surdisorex polulus

According to Furió et al.(2007)^[2] the group should have the status of tribe, as a relict of the primitive subfamily Crocidosoricinae (Reumer, 1987).

References

1. ^ Quérouil et al., 2001, Mol. Phyl. Evol. 20(2):185-195
2. ^ Furió, M., Santos-Cubedo, A., Minwer-Barakat, R., Agustí, J. 2007. Evolutionary history of the African soricid Myosorex (Insectivora, Mammalia) out of Africa. J. Vert. Paleont. 27(4):1018-1032.