Neurotrichini Hutterer 2005

Wilson, Don E. & Reeder, DeeAnn, 2005, Order Soricomorpha, Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3 rd Edition), Volume 1, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 220-311 : 303

Neurotrichini Hutterer 2005

Neurotrichini Hutterer 2005 , Mammal Species of the World (Wilson and Reeder, eds.), 3rd ed., Vol. 1: pg???.

Genera: 1 genus with 1 species:

Genus Neurotrichus Günther 1880 (1 species with 3 subspecies)

Discussion: Type genus – Neurotrichus Günther, 1880. Definition – Extant species represents smallest New World talpid; semi-fossorial moles that spend much time and nest above ground; tail about half the length of head-and-body, thick, constricted at base, scaled, annulated, covered sparsely with long hairs; pelage black to blue-black; eyes rudimentary, pinnae absent; digitigrade, pentadactyle feet scaly; forefoot longer than broad, equipped with long curved claws; 6 weak tubercles on sole of hindfoot ( Hall, 1981; Carraway and Verts, 1991, Mammalian Species 387); humerus shrew-like ( Storch and Qiu, 1983); bullae incomplete; skull with broad braincase and wide interorbital constriction; zygoma short; 36 teeth, six upper and seven lower molariform teeth on each side; for details of the dentition and differences to Urotrichus , see Storch and Qiu (1983). Contents – Neurotrichus Günther, 1880; Quyania Storch and Qiu, 1983 .

A molecular study by Shinohara et al. (2003) clearly revealed that Neurotrichus has no sister relationship to Urotrichus and Dymecodon and therefore cannot be included in the Urotrichini . Storch and Qiu (1983) described similarities in the dentition and humerus of Neurotrichus and Quyania Storch and Qiu, 1983 from the Neocene of China, and postulated a long separation of Urotrichini and Neurotrichus (plus Quyania ). Neurotrichus is the only known vertebrate to possess a pigmented layer covering the anterior surface of the eye lens ( Lewis, 1983), and the only talpid known to possess a pair of ampullary glands and have external lobulation of the two bodies of the prostate gland ( Eadie, 1951) .