Summary
Diplomesodon is a genus of shrew that contains a single extant species, the piebald shrew (Diplomesodon pulchellus).
| Diplomesodon Temporal range: Early Pleistocene - Recent
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| Piebald shrew (Diplomesodon pulchellus). | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Eulipotyphla |
| Family: | Soricidae |
| Subfamily: | Crocidurinae |
| Genus: | Diplomesodon Brandt, 1852 |
| Species | |
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Taxonomy edit
An extinct species named Diplomesodon fossorius 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] The American Society of Mammalogists considers D. sonnerati to be a subspecies of the piebald shrew, if it exists.[4]
References edit
- ^ 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. JSTOR 1377837.
- ^ 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. 108 (published 2012): 95–97.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Diplomesodon pulchellus (H. Lichtenstein, 1823)". ASM Mammal Diversity Database. American Society of Mammalogists. Retrieved 2023-06-27.