| Black-backed shrew mole | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Eulipotyphla |
| Family: | Talpidae |
| Genus: | Uropsilus |
| Species: | U. atronates |
| Binomial name | |
| Uropsilus atronates (Allen, 1923) | |
The black-backed shrew mole (Uropsilus atronates) is a species of mammal in the family Talpidae. It is endemic to China, where it is only known from the vicinity of Mucheng in Yunnan Province. [1] [2]
It was first named as a subspecies of Anderson's shrew mole, Rhynchonax andersoni atronates, by Glover Morrill Allen in 1923. [3] Later it was considered synonymous with the gracile shrew mole (U. gracilis), but a 2018 phylogenetic study found it to be a distinct species. The study found it to be sister species to a clade comprising U. gracilis and a putative undescribed species of Uropsilus . Both groups likely diverged during the early-mid Pleistocene. [1]