''Nesogale'' is a genus of

tenrec A tenrec is any species of mammal within the afrotherian family Tenrecidae endemic to Madagascar. Tenrecs are wildly diverse; as a result of convergent evolution some resemble hedgehogs, shrews, opossums, rats, and mice. They occupy aquatic, a ...

s, which are a family of

afrotheria Afrotheria ( from Latin ''Afro-'' "of Africa" + ''theria'' "wild beast") is a clade of mammals, the living members of which belong to groups that are either currently living in Africa or of African origin: golden moles, elephant shrews (also know ...

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 endemic to

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

. On the basis of molecular data indicating its two species form a

sister group In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and t ...

to the rest of ''

Microgale ''Microgale'' is a genus of mammal in the family Tenrecidae. There are 21 living species on the island of Madagascar and one extinct species known from a fossil. Some species have been discovered in the last twenty years. On the basis of molecu ...

'' (21 extant species), they were transferred from ''Microgale'' to ''Nesogale'' in 2016, thus resurrecting a genus first erected by

Oldfield Thomas Michael Rogers Oldfield Thomas (21 February 1858 – 16 June 1929) was a British zoologist. Career Thomas worked at the Natural History Museum on mammals, describing about 2,000 new species and subspecies for the first time. He was appoin ...

in 1918. These genera, along with '' Oryzorictes'', form the tenrec subfamily

Oryzorictinae Oryzorictinae is a subfamily of tenrecs endemic to the island of Madagascar. It is the largest of three tenrec subfamilies. Oryzorictinae is thought to have split from the lineage of its closest relative, ''Geogale'', about 30 million years ( Ma) ...

. ''Nesogale'' contains the following species: *

Dobson's shrew tenrec Dobson's shrew tenrec (''Nesogale dobsoni'') is a species of mammal in the family Tenrecidae. It is endemic to Madagascar. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist forests, plantations, and heavily degraded former forest. On the bas ...

(''N. dobsoni'') - (

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the Ap ...

, 1884) *

Talazac's shrew tenrec Talazac's shrew tenrec (''Nesogale talazaci'') is a species of mammal in the family Tenrecidae. It is endemic to Madagascar. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist forests. On the basis of molecular data indicating that it and D ...

(''N. talazaci'') - (

Major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

, 1896) These species are distinguished from the other shrew tenrecs of ''Microgale'' by being more robust and larger, and by their lack of

premolar The premolars, also called premolar teeth, or bicuspids, are transitional teeth located between the canine and molar teeth. In humans, there are two premolars per quadrant in the permanent set of teeth, making eight premolars total in the mouth ...

diastema A diastema (plural diastemata, from Greek διάστημα, space) is a space or gap between two teeth. Many species of mammals have diastemata as a normal feature, most commonly between the incisors and molars. More colloquially, the condition ...

ta. They are distributed over much of the eastern and northern areas of the island. ''Nesogale'' and ''Microgale'' are estimated to have split during the

Early Miocene The Early Miocene (also known as Lower Miocene) is a sub-epoch of the Miocene Epoch made up of two stages: the Aquitanian and Burdigalian stages. The sub-epoch lasted from 23.03 ± 0.05 Ma to 15.97 ± 0.05 Ma (million years ago). It was prece ...

, about 19 million years ago.

References

Afrosoricida Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas {{afrosoricida-stub