''Soricomys'', the shrew-mice, are a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the order Rodentia (), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They are na ...

s in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Muridae The Muridae, or murids, are the largest family of rodents and of mammals, containing approximately 1,383 species, including many species of mice, rats, and gerbils found naturally throughout Eurasia, Africa, and Australia. The name Muridae come ...

. They are

carnivore A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant whose food and energy requirements derive from animal tissues (mainly muscle, fat and other sof ...

s that feed on

invertebrate Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...

s much like

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 ...

s do. An apparently smaller relatives of the true shrew-rats ''

Chrotomys The genus ''Chrotomys'' contain a unique group of rodents found only in the Philippines, specifically the islands of Luzon, Mindoro, and Sibuyan. Instead of being predominantly herbivorous or omnivorous like other murines, these rats feed predo ...

'' and '' Rhynchomys'', ''Soricomys'' are somewhat convergent to the more distantly related ''

Crunomys ''Crunomys'' is a genus of rodent in the family Muridae native to the Philippines and Sulawesi Sulawesi (), also known as Celebes (), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the world's eleventh-largest islan ...

''.Balete ''et al.'' (2006) The

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

are:Musser & Carleton (2005), Balete ''et al.'' (2006) * '' Soricomys kalinga'' * Co's shrew mouse, '' Soricomys leonardocoi'' * Southern Cordillera shrew mouse, '' Soricomys montanus'' * Sierra Madre shrew mouse, '' Soricomys musseri'' ''S. kalinga'' was only discovered on March 30, 2000, and described in 2006.

References

* (2006): A new species of the shrew-mouse, ''Archboldomys'' (Rodentia: Muridae: Murinae), from the Philippines. ''Systematics and Biodiversity'' 4(4): 489–501. (HTML abstract) * (2005): Superfamily Muroidea. ''In:'' : ''Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference'': 894–1531. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore. * (1982): Results of the Archbold Expeditions. No. 110. ''Crunomys'' and the small-bodied shrew rats native to the Philippine Islands and Sulawesi (Celebes). ''Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History'' 174(1): 1-95. Rodents of the Philippines Rodent genera Endemic fauna of the Philippines {{murinae-stub