| Sonnerat's shrew | |
|---|---|
 | |
| An artist's depiction | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Eulipotyphla |
| Family: | Soricidae |
| Genus: | Diplomesodon |
| Species: | †D. sonnerati |
| Binomial name | |
| †Diplomesodon sonnerati Cheke, 2018 | |
Sonnerat's shrew (Diplomesodon sonnerati or Crocidura sonnerati) is a species of shrew that was first described by Pierre Sonnerat from Pondicherry somewhere in 1813.
It was described as being larger than the commoner Suncus murinus and without a musky smell. Males were shiny black with a white band or patch on the middle of the back. Females also had the white patch but were grey. Sonnerat described the shrew as being five and a half inches [149 mm] from the head to the base of the tail and the tail being one inch and one line or 29 mm.
Since no specimen of the species exists, both its taxonomic description and its generic placement remain in question.
The supposed shrew species was given a scientific name by Anthony Cheke which was first published in 2012 [1] but the description was not considered valid by some as the holotype was not explicitly designated (in this case the illustration, as there was no specimen) and it was therefore redescribed in 2018. The species was placed tentatively in the genus Diplomesodon which is nested within Crocidura according to a molecular phylogenetic study. [2] Cheke placed the species tentatively in the genus based on the observation that the only other shew species with a piebald pattern was in the central Asian species Diplomesodon pulchellum . Considering that no specimen matching the species has ever been found ever since, it is thought that the species has since gone extinct. [3]
Shrews 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 families or orders.
Newton's parakeet, also known as the Rodrigues parakeet or Rodrigues ring-necked parakeet, is an extinct species of parrot that was endemic to the Mascarene island of Rodrigues in the western Indian Ocean. Several of its features diverged from related species, indicating long-term isolation on Rodrigues and subsequent adaptation. The rose-ringed parakeet of the same genus is a close relative and probable ancestor. Newton's parakeet may itself have been ancestral to the endemic parakeets of nearby Mauritius and Réunion.
The white-toothed shrews or Crocidurinae are one of three subfamilies of the shrew family Soricidae.
Pierre Sonnerat was a French naturalist, colonial administrator, writer and explorer. He described numerous species of plants and animals on his travels and is honoured in the genus Sonneratia and in other specific names such as that of the grey junglefowl Gallus sonneratii.
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The Seychelles parakeet or Seychelles Island parrot is an extinct species of parrot that was endemic to the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean. It was scientifically named Palaeornis wardi by the British ornithologist Edward Newton in 1867, and the specific name honours the British civil commissioner Swinburne Ward who procured the specimens that formed the basis for the description. It was found on the islands of Mahé, Silhouette, and possibly Praslin. Ten skin specimens exist today, but no skeletons. Though the species was later moved to the genus Psittacula, genetic studies have led some researchers to suggest it should belong in a reinstated Palaeornis along with the closely related Alexandrine parakeet (P. eupatria) of Asia.
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The Mauritius blue pigeon is an extinct species of blue pigeon formerly endemic to the Mascarene island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar. It has two extinct relatives from the Mascarenes and three extant ones from other islands. It is the type species of the genus of blue pigeons, Alectroenas. It had white hackles around the head, neck and breast and blue plumage on the body, and it was red on the tail and the bare parts of the head. These colours were thought similar to those of the Dutch flag, a resemblance reflected in its French common name, Pigeon Hollandais. The juveniles may have been partially green. It was 30 cm (12 in) long and larger and more robust than any other blue pigeon species. It fed on fruits, nuts, and molluscs, and was once widespread in the forests of Mauritius.
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Crocidura sapaensis is a species of white-toothed shrew native to northern Vietnam. It was first described in 2013 and its specific name derives from the Sa Pa where it was discovered.
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