Soricomorpha

order of mammals

The Soricomorpha ("shrew-form") was a proposed biological group in the class of mammals.[1] It includes all the shrews, solenodons and moles. It is divided into four families, one extinct. The other three families are the shrews, solenodons and moles. This followed the discovery, from sequence analysis, that the old order Insectivora was polyphyletic. That meant it was not a single clade.

Soricomorpha
Southern short-tailed shrew
Scientific classification
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Soricomorpha

The proposal was discarded when it was discovered that a larger grouping was monophyletic, and formed an natural clade of insectivores. That is the new order Eulipotyphla.


References change

  1. Hutterer, Rainer (2005). Don E. Wilson; DeeAnn M. Reeder (eds.). Mammal Species of the World (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 220–311. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0.