Soricomorpha (from

Greek Greek may refer to: 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 of all kno ...

"shrew-form") is a formerly used

taxon In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; : taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and ...

within the

class Class, Classes, or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used d ...

mammal A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three ...

s. In the past it formed a significant group within the former order

Insectivora The Order (biology), order Insectivora (from Latin ''insectum'' "insect" and ''vorare'' "to eat") is a now-abandoned biological grouping within the class of mammals. Some species have now been moved out, leaving the remaining ones in the order ...

. However, Insectivora was shown to be

polyphyletic A polyphyletic group is an assemblage that includes organisms with mixed evolutionary origin but does not include their most recent common ancestor. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as Homoplasy, homoplasies ...

and various new orders were split off from it, including Afrosoricida ( tenrecs, golden moles, otter shrews), Macroscelidea (elephant shrews), and Erinaceomorpha (

hedgehog A hedgehog is a spiny mammal of the subfamily Erinaceinae, in the eulipotyphlan family Erinaceidae. There are 17 species of hedgehog in five genera found throughout parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and in New Zealand by introduction. The ...

s and gymnures), with the four remaining extant and recent

families Family (from ) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictability, structure, and safety as ...

of Soricomorpha shown here then being treated as a separate order. Insectivora was left empty and disbanded. Subsequently, Soricomorpha itself was shown to be

paraphyletic Paraphyly is a taxonomic term describing a grouping that consists of the grouping's last common ancestor and some but not all of its descendant lineages. The grouping is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In co ...

, because Soricidae shared a more recent common ancestor with Erinaceidae than with other soricomorphs. The combination of Soricomorpha and Erinaceidae, referred to as order

Eulipotyphla Eulipotyphla (, from '' eu-'' + '' Lipotyphla'', meaning truly lacking blind gut; sometimes called true insectivores) is an order of mammals comprising the Erinaceidae ( hedgehogs and gymnures); Solenodontidae (solenodons); Talpidae ( mole ...

, has been shown to be monophyletic. Living members of the group range in size from the

Etruscan shrew The Etruscan shrew (''Suncus etruscus''), also known as the Etruscan pygmy shrew, white-toothed pygmy shrew and Savi's pygmy shrew, is the smallest known extant mammal by mass, weighing only about on average. (The bumblebee bat is regarded as t ...

, at about and , to the

Cuban solenodon The Cuban solenodon or ''almiquí'' (''Atopogale cubana'') is a small, furry, shrew-like mammal endemic to Cuban moist forests, mountainous forests on Cuba. It is the monotypic taxon, only species in the genus ''Atopogale''. An elusive animal, it ...

, at about and . * Soricomorpha ** Family Soricidae (shrews) *** Subfamily Crocidurinae: (white-toothed shrews) *** Subfamily Soricinae: (red-toothed shrews) *** Subfamily Myosoricinae: (African white-toothed shrews) ** Family

Talpidae The family (biology), family Talpidae () includes the true Mole (animal), moles (as well as the shrew moles and desmans) who are small insectivore, insectivorous mammals of the order (biology), order Eulipotyphla. Talpids are all fossorial, diggi ...

: ( moles and close relatives) *** Subfamily Scalopinae (New World moles and close relatives) *** Subfamily Talpinae (Old World moles and close relatives) *** Subfamily Uropsilinae (Chinese shrew-like moles) ** Family Solenodontidae: solenodons (rare primitive eulipotyphlans of the Caribbean; two extant species) ** Family † Nesophontidae: West Indian shrews (recently extinct eulipotyphlans of the Caribbean) ** Family † Heterosoricidae *** genus †'' Atasorex'' *** genus †'' Dinosorex'' *** genus †'' Domnina'' *** genus †'' Gobisorex'' *** genus †'' Heterosorex'' *** genus †'' Ingentisorex'' *** genus †'' Lusorex'' *** genus †'' Paradomnina'' *** genus †'' Quercysorex'' ** Family †

Nyctitheriidae Nyctitheriidae is a family of extinct eulipotyphlan insectivores known from the Paleocene and Eocene Epoch, epochs of North America and Asia and persisting into the Oligocene of Europe. Several genera, including ''Nyctitherium'', ''Paradoxonycter ...

References

{{Authority control Taxa named by William King Gregory Extant Eocene first appearances Paraphyletic groups Eulipotyphla Obsolete mammal taxa