The northern caenolestid (''Caenolestes convelatus''), also known as the blackish shrew opossum, is a

shrew opossum The family Caenolestidae contains the seven surviving species of shrew opossum: small, shrew-like marsupials that are confined to the Andes mountains of South America. The order is thought to have diverged from the ancestral marsupial line very e ...

found in Colombia and

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ' ...

. It is listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN.

Taxonomy and etymology

The northern caenolestid is one of the five members of '' Caenolestes'', and is placed in the family

Caenolestidae The family Caenolestidae contains the seven surviving species of shrew opossum: small, shrew-like marsupials that are confined to the Andes mountains of South America. The order is thought to have diverged from the ancestral marsupial line very e ...

(shrew opossums). It was first described by American zoologist

Harold Elmer Anthony Harold may refer to: People * Harold (given name), including a list of persons and fictional characters with the name * Harold (surname), surname in the English language * András Arató, known in meme culture as "Hide the Pain Harold" Arts a ...

in 1924. In the latter part of 20th century, scientists believed that ''Caenolestes'' is closely related to ''Lestoros'' (the Incan caenolestid). Over the years, it became clear that ''Lestoros'' is morphologically different from ''Caenolestes''. A 2013 morphological and mitochondrial DNA-based

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ...

study showed that the Incan caenolestid and the long-nosed caenolestid (''Rhyncholestes raphanurus'') form a clade

sister A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a family, familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to r ...

to ''Caenolestes''. The cladogram below is based on this study. Two subspecies are recognized: *''C. c. barbarensis'' H. E. Anthony, 1924: Occurs in western Colombia *''C. c. convelatus'' Bublitz, 1987: Occurs in northwestern

Caenolestid fossils date to as early as the early

Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''ēṓs'', " ...

(nearly 55 mya). The generic name ''Caenolestes'' derives from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

words ''kainos'' ("new") and ''lestes'' ("robber", "pirate").

Description

The northern caenolestid is similar to the gray-bellied caenolestid in coat coloration but differs in cranial features.Kirsch and Waller (1979) gave the following measurements for 1 adult male captured in Colombia in 1969: * Total length (mm) : 222 * Tail length (mm) : 114 * Hindfoot (mm) : 18 * Ear length (mm) : 14 * Weight (grams) : 25.0

Distribution and habitat

The northern caenolestid occurs in and around alpine and secondary forests. The populations appear to have been divided into two parts – the Andes of western Colombia and northcentral Ecuador. It occurs in an altitudinal range of in Colombia, though in Ecuador it has been recorded at a height of . In 2008, the IUCN classified the northern caenolestid as Vulnerable because it is known only from an area of . Deforestation is a major threat, and more severe in Ecuador.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q194409 Shrew opossums Mammals of the Andes Marsupials of South America Endemic fauna of Colombia Endemic fauna of Ecuador Mammals of Colombia Mammals of Ecuador Vulnerable animals Vulnerable biota of South America Mammals described in 1924 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot es:Caenolestes#Caenolestes convelatus