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 Salomon Müller (7 April 1804 – 29 December 1864) was a German naturalist. He was born in Heidelberg, and died in Freiburg im Breisgau. Müller was the son of a saddler in Heidelberg. Along with Heinrich Boie and Heinrich Christian Macklot, he w ...

in 1840.

Description

The upperparts of the short-tailed gymnure are reddish brown to dark brown, with a grey tinge. The underparts are light grey, with white-tipped hairs. It resembles a large shrew, with a long snout and a very short hairless tail. It also has rounded, leathery ears. The head and body length is and the tail length measures

Habits and habitat

This mammal is active both day and night. The species lives in hill and montane forests up to 3,000m, but sometimes in humid lowland forests. It feeds mainly on

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three ...

s on the ground but it also takes some fruit sometimes. They normally don't live any longer than 2 years.

Distribution

The species lives mainly in

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainlan ...

(

Brunei Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely surrounded by t ...

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailan ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

, Laos,

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

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 i ...

), but it is also found in China.

References

External links

Image at ADW
Hylomys Mammals of Indonesia Mammals of Thailand Mammals of Malaysia Mammals of China Mammals of Myanmar Mammals of Laos Mammals of Vietnam Mammals of Brunei Mammals of Cambodia Mammals of Borneo Taxa named by Salomon Müller Mammals described in 1840 {{erinaceidae-stub