The Chinese mole shrew (''Anourosorex squamipes'') is one of four species of Asian mole shrew in the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

''Anourosorex''. Despite the name, it is found not only in China but also in northeast

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

, and

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making it ...

. Like all other species of the genus ''

Anourosorex Asian mole shrews (''Anourosorex'') are a genus of shrews that resemble moles, from China, Taiwan, India, and Indochina. They are the only known genus of the Anourosoricini tribe of red-toothed shrews. The four known species are:

'', the Chinese mole shrew is

fossorial A fossorial () animal is one adapted to digging which lives primarily, but not solely, underground. Some examples are badgers, naked mole-rats, clams, meerkats, and mole salamanders, as well as many beetles, wasps, and bees. Prehistoric e ...

, and is found in

montane Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial ...

forests. In 2006, the

Centers for Disease Control The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency, under the Department of Health and Human Services, and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georg ...

reported this species can carry a version of the

hantavirus ''Orthohantavirus'' is a genus of single-stranded, enveloped, negative-sense RNA viruses in the family '' Hantaviridae'' within the order '' Bunyavirales''. Members of this genus may be called orthohantaviruses or simply hantaviruses. Orthohan ...

, which is genetically distinct from rodent hantavirus and new to science.

References

* Smith, A.T and Xie, Y. 2008. A guide to the mammals of China. Princeton University Press, New Jersey. Anourosorex Mammals described in 1872 Mammals of China Mammals of India Mammals of Laos Mammals of Myanmar Mammals of Thailand Mammals of Vietnam Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{redtoothed-shrew-stub