Gymnures, also called hairy hedgehogs or moonrats, are

mammal Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...

s belonging to the subfamily Galericinae, in the family

Erinaceidae Erinaceidae is a family in the order Eulipotyphla, consisting of the hedgehogs and moonrats. Until recently, it was assigned to the order Erinaceomorpha, which has been subsumed with the paraphyletic Soricomorpha into Eulipotyphla. Eulipotyphla ...

and the order

Eulipotyphla Eulipotyphla (, which means "truly fat and blind") is an order of mammals suggested by molecular methods of phylogenetic reconstruction, which includes the laurasiatherian members of the now-invalid polyphyletic order Lipotyphla, but not the afr ...

. Gymnures resemble rats but are not closely related as they are not

rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the order Rodentia (), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They are na ...

s; they are instead closely related to

hedgehog A hedgehog is a spiny mammal of the subfamily Erinaceinae, in the eulipotyphlan family Erinaceidae. There are seventeen species of hedgehog in five genera found throughout parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and in New Zealand by introducti ...

s, which also belong to Erinaceidae. They are thought to have appeared in Eastern Asia before their closest relatives, and changed little from the original ancestor, which is thought to have been also the ancestor of the

shrews Shrews (family Soricidae) are small mole-like mammals classified in the order Eulipotyphla. True shrews are not to be confused with treeshrews, otter shrews, elephant shrews, West Indies shrews, or marsupial shrews, which belong to different ...

Description

Although the gymnures are more closely related to the hedgehogs, full-grown gymnures superficially resemble large rats, shrews or

opossum Opossums () are members of the marsupial order Didelphimorphia () endemic to the Americas. The largest order of marsupials in the Western Hemisphere, it comprises 93 species in 18 genera. Opossums originated in South America and entered North ...

s. The gymnure's body plan is believed to resemble that of the earliest mammals, with a large, toothy head about 1/3 the length of the total body, a naked furless tail for balance and

thermoregulatory Thermoregulation is the ability of an organism to keep its body temperature within certain boundaries, even when the surrounding temperature is very different. A thermoconforming organism, by contrast, simply adopts the surrounding temperature ...

purposes, and a

plantigrade 151px, Portion of a human skeleton, showing plantigrade habit In terrestrial animals, plantigrade locomotion means walking with the toes and metatarsals flat on the ground. It is one of three forms of locomotion adopted by terrestrial mammals. T ...

stance. In direct contrast to the closely related hedgehogs, gymnures are not spiny. They also have an outstanding sense of smell, and tactile response in the snout region.

Distribution and habitat

Gymnures inhabit moist jungle terrain in various locales of Southeast

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

, including

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 i ...

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

and the

Malay Peninsula The Malay Peninsula (Malay: ''Semenanjung Tanah Melayu'') is a peninsula in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The area ...

Behaviour

Gymnures are primarily

carnivorous A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant whose food and energy requirements derive from animal tissues (mainly muscle, fat and other sof ...

. They are

nocturnal Nocturnality is an animal behavior characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatures generally have highly developed sens ...

crepuscular In zoology, a crepuscular animal is one that is active primarily during the twilight period, being matutinal, vespertine, or both. This is distinguished from diurnal and nocturnal behavior, where an animal is active during the hours of daylig ...

: they come out to forage at twilight or in the night to search the forest floor, using smell to find the animals that they eat. Gymnures eat various

arthropods Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a Segmentation (biology), segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and Arth ...

mice A mouse ( : mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...

, small

reptile Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, squamates (lizards and snakes) and rhynchocephalians ( ...

s and

amphibia Amphibians are four-limbed and ectothermic vertebrates of the class Amphibia. All living amphibians belong to the group Lissamphibia. They inhabit a wide variety of habitats, with most species living within terrestrial, fossorial, arbore ...

ns, with occasional fruit and

fungi A fungus ( : fungi or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as a kingdom, separately from ...

. Gymnures keep territories, and individuals are solitary except when breeding. Gymnures have a very strong scent, typically described as a rancid

garlic Garlic (''Allium sativum'') is a species of bulbous flowering plant in the genus ''Allium''. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, Allium fistulosum, Welsh onion and Allium chinense, Chinese onion. It is native to South A ...

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus ''Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion ...

smell, which is produced by its territory-marking scent glands. Several creatures similar in form and niche, such as the

and

solenodon Solenodons (from el, τέλειος , 'channel' or 'pipe' and el, ὀδούς , 'tooth') are venomous, nocturnal, burrowing, insectivorous mammals belonging to the family Solenodontidae . The two living solenodon species are the Cuban solen ...

, have an odor similar to the gymnure's.

Classification

This subfamily has alternately been called Echinosoricinae, Galericinae, and Hylomyinae. Some researchers prefer Hylomyinae because the specific relationships of the extinct genus ''

Galerix ''Galerix'' is a prehistoric genus of gymnures. Fossils of these hedgehog-like creatures are found in Europe, Africa, and Asia. Taxonomy Nine species are recognized as members of the genus: *''Galerix aurelianensis'' *''Galerix exilis'' *''Ga ...

'' to living erinaceids are uncertain. There are eight extant species in five genera: *Genus ''

Echinosorex The moonrat (''Echinosorex gymnura'') is a southeast Asian species of mammal in the family Erinaceidae (hedgehogs and gymnures). It is the only species in the genus ''Echinosorex''. The moonrat is a fairly small, primarily carnivorous animal whi ...

'' **''

Echinosorex gymnura The moonrat (''Echinosorex gymnura'') is a southeast Asian species of mammal in the family Erinaceidae (hedgehogs and gymnures). It is the only species in the genus ''Echinosorex''. The moonrat is a fairly small, primarily carnivorous animal ...

'' ( moonrat) *Genus ''

Hylomys ''Hylomys'' is a small genus of the family Erinaceidae. ''Hylomys'' species, like all species in the subfamily Galericinae, are known as gymnures or moonrats. Their closest relatives include the fossil '' Lantanotherium'' and '' Thaiagymnura'' ...

'' **'' Hylomys megalotis'' ( Long-eared gymnure) **'' Hylomys parvus'' (

dwarf gymnure The dwarf gymnure (''Hylomys parvus'') is a gymnure found only at Mount Kerinci, Sumatra, Indonesia. It is listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially Inte ...

) **''

Hylomys suillus The short-tailed gymnure (''Hylomys suillus'') is a small mammal from the family of the Erinaceidae. The scientific name of the species is first published by Salomon Müller in 1840. Description The upperparts of the short-tailed gymnure are ...

'' ( short-tailed gymnure or lesser moonrat) *Genus ''

Neohylomys The Hainan gymnure (''Neohylomys hainanensis'') or Hainan moonrat is a species of mammal in the family Erinaceidae. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forests. It was thought to be endemic to the island of Hainan, China where i ...

'' **''

Neohylomys hainanensis The Hainan gymnure (''Neohylomys hainanensis'') or Hainan moonrat is a species of mammal in the family Erinaceidae. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forests. It was thought to be endemic to the island of Hainan, China where it i ...

'' ( Hainan gymnure or Hainan moonrat) *Genus ''

Neotetracus ''Neotetracus'' is a genus of gymnure that contains a single extant species, the shrew gymnure ''(Neotetracus sinensis)'' of China and Southeast Asia. Another fossil species is also known from the Miocene of Thailand Thailand ( ), h ...

'' **'' Neotetracus sinensis'' (

shrew gymnure The shrew gymnure, or shrew hedgehog (''Neotetracus sinensis''), is a species of mammal in the family Erinaceidae and is the only extant species in the genus Neotetracus. It is found in China, Myanmar, and Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ...

) *Genus ''

Podogymnura ''Podogymnura'' is a genus of mammal in the family Erinaceidae. It contains the following species: * Dinagat moonrat (''Podogymnura aureospinula'') * Mindanao gymnure ''Podogymnura truei'', also known as the Mindanao gymnure, Mindanao moonra ...

'' **'' Podogymnura aureospinula'' ( Dinagat gymnure or Dinagat moonrat) **''

Podogymnura truei ''Podogymnura truei'', also known as the Mindanao gymnure, Mindanao moonrat, or Mindanao wood shrew, is a mammal of the family Erinaceidae. It is endemic to the Mindanao islands of the Philippines. Erinaceidae is a family of small mammals that in ...

'' (

Mindanao gymnure ''Podogymnura truei'', also known as the Mindanao gymnure, Mindanao moonrat, or Mindanao wood shrew, is a mammal of the family Erinaceidae. It is endemic to the Mindanao islands of the Philippines. Erinaceidae is a family of small mammals that in ...

or Mindanao moonrat)

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1755565