The Somali elephant shrew or Somali sengi (''Galegeeska revoilii'') is a species of
elephant shrew
Elephant shrews, also called jumping shrews or sengis, are small insectivorous mammals native to Africa, belonging to the family Macroscelididae, in the order Macroscelidea. Their traditional common English name "elephant shrew" comes from a perc ...
in the family Macroscelididae.
Habitat
Its natural habitat is arid and semiarid desert with rocky substrates and
sparse shrubs. In some parts of Somalia, the Somali sengi and
rufous sengi (''G. rufescens'') may be locally
sympatric. It is found in the northern
Horn of Africa; it was formerly thought to be exclusively
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...
to Somalia, but a 2020 sighting also indicates they are found in
Djibouti
Djibouti, ar, جيبوتي ', french: link=no, Djibouti, so, Jabuuti officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red ...
and potentially
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
.
Classification
It was formerly classified in the genus ''
Elephantulus
''Elephantulus'' is a genus of elephant shrew in the family Macroscelididae.
It contains the following species:
* Short-snouted elephant shrew (''E. brachyrhynchus'')
* Cape elephant shrew (''E. edwardii'')
* Dusky-footed elephant shrew (''E. ...
'', but a 2020 study found it to be the
sister taxon
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 ...
of the clade containing the genera ''
Petrodromus'' and ''
Petrosaltator''; and the genus ''
Galegeeska'' was coined for it.
Disappearance and rediscovery
The Somali sengi was among the 25 "most wanted lost" species that were the focus of
Global Wildlife Conservation's “Search for Lost Species” initiative. On 18 August 2020, 50 years after it was last seen and recorded, it was announced that a population had been found in Djibouti, the first documented since 1968.
[Enrico de Lazaro]
Scientists Rediscover Long-Lost Species of Mammal: Somali Sengi
on: sci-news, 20 August 2020
References
Elephant shrews
Mammals of Somalia
Endemic fauna of Somalia
Mammals described in 1881
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot
Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN
{{macroscelidea-stub