| Everglades short-tailed shrew | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Eulipotyphla |
| Family: | Soricidae |
| Genus: | Blarina |
| Species: | B. peninsulae |
| Binomial name | |
| Blarina peninsulae Merriam, 1895 | |
The Everglades short-tailed shrew (Blarina peninsulae) is a species of shrew in the genus Blarina . [1] It is endemic to Florida.
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.
The red-toothed shrews of the subfamily Soricinae are one of three living subfamilies of shrews, along with Crocidurinae and Myosoricinae. In addition, the family contains the extinct subfamilies Limnoecinae, Crocidosoricinae, Allosoricinae and Heterosoricinae. These species are typically found in North America, northern South America, Europe and northern Asia. The enamel of the tips of their teeth is reddish due to iron pigment. The iron deposits serve to harden the enamel and are concentrated in those parts of the teeth most subject to wear.
The northern short-tailed shrew is the largest shrew in the genus Blarina, and occurs in the northeastern region of North America. It is a semifossorial, highly active, and voracious insectivore and is present in a variety of habitats like broadleaved and pine forests among shrubs and hedges as well as grassy river banks. It is notable in that it is one of the few venomous mammals. The specific epithet, brevicauda, is a combination of the Latin brevis and cauda, meaning "short tail".
The North American least shrew is one of the smallest mammals, growing to be only up to 3 inches long. It has a long pointed snout and a tail never more than twice the length of its hind foot. The dense fur coat is either grayish-brown or reddish-brown with a white belly. Its fur becomes lighter in the summer and darker in the winter. Although similar in appearance to several species of rodents, all shrews are members of the order Eulipotyphla and should not be mistaken for a member of the order Rodentia. The North American least shrew's eyes are small and its ears are completely concealed within its short fur, giving it very poor eyesight and hearing.
The southern short-tailed shrew is a gray, short-tailed shrew that inhabits the eastern United States.
The genus Blarina is a group of relatively large shrews with relatively short tails found in North America. They have 32 teeth and are in the red-toothed shrew subfamily.
The Eurasian water shrew, known in the United Kingdom as the water shrew, is a relatively large shrew, up to 10 cm (4 in) long, with a tail up to three-quarters as long again. It has short, dark fur, often with a few white tufts, a white belly, and a few stiff hairs around the feet and tail. It lives close to fresh water, hunting aquatic prey in the water and nearby. Its fur traps bubbles of air in the water which greatly aids its buoyancy, but requires it to anchor itself to remain underwater for more than the briefest of dives.
Elliot's short-tailed shrew is a small, slate grey, short-tailed species of shrew. Its common name comes from Daniel Giraud Elliot, who first described the species in 1899.
Venomous mammals are animals of the class Mammalia that produce venom, which they use to kill or disable prey, to defend themselves from predators or conspecifics or in agonistic encounters. Mammalian venoms form a heterogeneous group with different compositions and modes of action, from three orders of mammals: Eulipotyphla, Monotremata, and Chiroptera. It has been proposed that some members of a fourth order, Primates, are venomous. To explain the rarity of venom delivery in Mammalia, Mark Dufton of the University of Strathclyde has suggested that modern mammalian predators do not need venom because they are able to kill quickly with their teeth or claws, whereas venom, no matter how sophisticated, requires time to disable prey.
Myosorex is a mammal genus in the Soricidae (shrew) family. The genus, collectively referred to as the mouse shrews, contains these species:
The montane mouse shrew is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae endemic to Uganda. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist montane forests and swamps. It is threatened by habitat loss.
The Inyo shrew is a species of shrew found in the western United States. Not much is known about its behavioral and reproductive habits. It is small, very similar in appearance to the related dwarf shrew, but smaller and paler. It can be found in many different habitats, from rocky, mountainous regions to wetlands and riparian areas. While barely studied, their population is believed to be stable and not under any threat.
According to the current taxonomy, the Myosoricinae are a subfamily of shrews. As such, they form one of three main types of shrews, the other two being the red-toothed shrews and the white-toothed shrews. They are the only one of the three to be found exclusively south of the Sahara Desert, and so they have been described in English as the African shrews, but also many white-toothed shrews are in Africa and therefore this term is more generally used for shrews from Africa in general. The subfamily has three genera and 20 species:
A unicuspid is a tooth that has only one cusp.
Soricidin is a paralytic oligopeptide found in the venomous saliva of the northern short-tailed shrew ; in the wild, shrews use it to paralyze their prey. Its name is a reference to "Soricidae", the family to which shrews belong.
Brevinema andersonii, named for John F. Anderson, who first described the organism. This organism is a Gram-negative, microaerophilic, helical shaped, chemoorganotrophic organism from the genus Brevinema. Brevinema andersonii is host associated, strains have been isolated from blood and other tissues of short-tailed shrews and white-footed mice and are infectious for laboratory mice and Syrian hamsters.B. andersonii is readily identified by restriction enzyme analysis, and SDS-PAGE, or fatty acid composition data. Another identifier for B. andersonii is the sheathed periplasmic flagella in the 1-2-1 configuration. While cells are visible by dark-field or phase-contrast microscopy, they cannot be seen when bright-field microscopy is used.
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