Diplomesodon
Temporal range: Early Pleistocene - Recent
Piebald shrew (Diplomesodon pulchellus).
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Eulipotyphla
Family: Soricidae
Subfamily: Crocidurinae
Genus: Diplomesodon
Brandt, 1852
Species

Diplomesodon is a genus of shrew that contains a single extant species, the piebald shrew (Diplomesodon pulchellus).

Taxonomy

An extinct species named Diplomesodon fossorius is known from the Early Pleistocene of South Africa, very distant from the current Caspian region distribution of the piebald shrew.[1]

Another potential member of this genus is the enigmatic Sonnerat's shrew (Diplomesodon sonnerati) which is known from no physical remains and has been described based solely on a 19th century manuscript.[2] Its status as a valid taxon is contentious, and even if it is indeed valid, the lack of any physical material indicates that it most likely has gone extinct.[3] The American Society of Mammalogists considers D. sonnerati to be a subspecies of the piebald shrew, if it exists.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Repenning, Charles A. (1965). "An Extinct Shrew from the Early Pleistocene of South Africa". Journal of Mammalogy. 46 (2): 189–196. doi:10.2307/1377837.
  2. ↑ Cheke, A.[S.] (2011). "Sonnerat's Shrew - evidence for a new and possibly extinct species in an early 19th century manuscript (Mammalia: Soricidae)". Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society (published 2012). 108: 95–97.
  3. ↑ Cheke, A. S.; Hume, J. P. (2018). "The Réunion Fody and Sonnerat's Shrew and the validity of scientifically naming animals described without physical types". Zootaxa. 4382 (3): 592–600. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4382.3.10. PMID 29689936.
  4. ↑ "Diplomesodon pulchellus. Explore the Database". www.mammaldiversity.org. Retrieved 2023-06-27.
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