The piebald shrew (Diplomesodon pulchellus) is a shrew found in the Turan Lowland east of the Caspian Sea in Iran, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
Piebald shrew[1] | |
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Piebald shrew in Moscow Zoo | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Eulipotyphla |
Family: | Soricidae |
Genus: | Diplomesodon |
Species: | D. pulchellus
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Binomial name | |
Diplomesodon pulchellus (Lichtenstein, 1823)
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Piebald shrew range | |
Synonyms | |
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It grows to 2 inches (5.1 cm) to 2.75 inches (7.0 cm) in length, and usually hunts for insects and lizards at night.
Taxonomy
editIt is the only extant member of the genus Diplomesodon. In 2011, A. Cheke described a new and possibly extinct species based on a 19th-century manuscript: Diplomesodon sonnerati (Sonnerat's shrew). It was described again in 2018 to meet certain validity requirements of the ICZN code.[3] The American Society of Mammalogists considers D. sonnerati to be a subspecies of the piebald shrew, if it exists.[4]
References
edit- ^ Hutterer, R. (2005). Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M. (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 255–256. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
- ^ Tsytsulina, K.; Formozov, N. & Sheftel, B. (2017) [errata version of 2016 assessment]. "Diplomesodon pulchellus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T41448A115186837. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T41448A22293795.en.
- ^ Cheke, A. (2011). "Sonnerat's shrew - evidence for a new and possibly extinct species in an early 19th century manuscript (Mammalia: Soricidae)" (PDF). Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. 108 (2): 95–97.
- ^ "Diplomesodon pulchellus. Explore the Database". www.mammaldiversity.org. Retrieved 2023-06-27.
- Animal, Smithsonian Institution, 2005.