Diplomesodon

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Diplomesodon
Temporal range: Early Pleistocene - Recent
Пегий путорак (Diplomesodon pulchellum), Gescheckte Wüstenspitzmaus, Piebald Shrew, Московский зоопарк (Moscow zoo), 18.11.2008.jpg
Piebald shrew (Diplomesodon pulchellum).
Scientific classification e
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Eulipotyphla
Family: Soricidae
Subfamily: Crocidurinae
Genus: Diplomesodon
Brandt, 1852
Species
  • Diplomesodon pulchellum
  • †
  • †Diplomesodon sonnerati?

Diplomesodon is a genus of shrew that contains a single extant species, the piebald shrew (Diplomesodon pulchellum).

Taxonomy[]

An extinct species named is known from the Early Pleistocene of South Africa, very distant from the current Caspian region distribution of the piebald shrew.[1]

Another potential member of this genus is the enigmatic Sonnerat's shrew (Diplomesodon sonnerati) which is known from no physical remains and has been described based solely on a 19th century manuscript.[2] Its status as a valid taxon is contentious, and even if it is indeed valid, the lack of any physical material indicates that it most likely has gone extinct.[3]

References[]

  1. ^ Repenning, Charles A. (1965). "An Extinct Shrew from the Early Pleistocene of South Africa". Journal of Mammalogy. 46 (2): 189–196. doi:10.2307/1377837.
  2. ^ Cheke, A.[S.] (2011). "Sonnerat's Shrew - evidence for a new and possibly extinct species in an early 19th century manuscript (Mammalia: Soricidae)". Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society (published 2012). 108: 95–97.
  3. ^ Cheke, A. S.; Hume, J. P. (2018). "The Réunion Fody and Sonnerat's Shrew and the validity of scientifically naming animals described without physical types". Zootaxa. 4382 (3): 592–600. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4382.3.10. PMID 29689936.
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