''Notiosorex dalquesti'', or Dalquest's shrew, is an extinct species of

shrew 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 fa ...

that was found in the

southwestern United States The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural region of the United States that generally includes Arizona, New Mexico, and adjacent portions of California, Colorado, Ne ...

and northern

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

during the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...

and possibly the

Holocene The Holocene ( ) is the current geological epoch. It began approximately 11,650 cal years Before Present (), after the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene togethe ...

. Fossils of Dalquest's shrew were once thought to belong to the living

Crawford's gray shrew Crawford's gray shrew (''Notiosorex crawfordi''), also known as the desert shrew, is a small shrew found in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. It is a member of the family Soricidae of the order Eulipotyphla. It was the only ...

but have since been classified as a distinct species.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q107980121 Notiosorex Fossil taxa described in 2010 Holocene extinctions Mammals described in 2010 Pleistocene mammals of North America