Myosorex Gray, 1838

Rainer Hutterer, 1993, Order Insectivora, Mammal Species of the World (2 nd Edition), Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. 69-130 : 99

Myosorex Gray, 1838 . Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1837: 124 [1838].

TYPE SPECIES: Sorex varius Smuts, 1832 .

COMMENTS: Subfamily status uncertain. Repenning (1967) grouped Myosorex in the Crocidurinae ; Reumer's (1987) Crocidosoricinae would fit as well. Kretzoi (1965) based the tribe Myosoricini on this genus; the name is available for any taxonomic unit above the genus level. Generic status sometimes questioned; but see Meester (1954). Surdisorex and Congosorex are often included as subgenera but are treated here as full genera, following Thomas (1906b), Hollister (1918), Meester (1953), Heim de Balsac (1966b), and my own studies. Partial reviews of Myosorex were provided by Heim de Balsac (1967, 1968b), Heim de Balsac and Lamotte (1956), and Meester and Dippenaar (1978). The formerly listed Myosorex preussi ( Matschie, 1893) , described from "Mount Cameroun ", is not listed here, because a recent examination of the type series has shown that the type series was based on mismatched parts of three different genera ( Crocidura , Sorex , Sylvisorex ), and that preussi does not represent a biological species. Species of conservation concern are listed in Nicoll and Rathbun (1990:21).