Sorex (Otisorex) hoyi Baird 1857

Sorex (Otisorex) hoyi Baird 1857, Mammalia, in: Repts. U. S. Expl. Surv., Vol. 8, 1: 32.

Type Locality: USA, Wisconsin, Racine.

Vernacular Names: American Pygmy Shrew.

Subspecies::

Subspecies Sorex (Otisorex) hoyi subsp. hoyi Baird 1857

Subspecies Sorex (Otisorex) hoyi subsp. alnorum Preble 1902

Subspecies Sorex (Otisorex) hoyi subsp. eximius Osgood 1901

Subspecies Sorex (Otisorex) hoyi subsp. montanus Brown 1966

Subspecies Sorex (Otisorex) hoyi subsp. thompsoni Baird 1858

Subspecies Sorex (Otisorex) hoyi subsp. winnemana Preble 1910

Distribution: N taiga zone of Alaska, Canada and the USA, with S outliers in the montane forests of the Appalachian and Rocky Mtns.

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Formerly in Microsorex, which is a synonym of subgenus Otisorex, according to George (1988). Includes thompsoni since Diersing (1980 b), but D. T. Stewart (in litt.) suggested that it may be a distinct species, as previously postulated by Long (1972 b). Reviewed by Long (1974, Mammalian Species No. 33) and Junge and Hoffmann (1981). Sorex browni George, 1988 [replacement name for minutus (Brown, 1908), not Linnaeus, 1766] is the name for a Wisconsinan shrew related, if not conspecific, with S. hoyi . The name montanus used by Long (in Wilson and Ruff, 1999) for the Colorado and Wyoming population is a secondary homonym of S. montanus Kelaart (now Suncus montanus), and may therefore persist (Hutterer and Zaitsev, 2004). Karyotype insufficently known; Meylan (1968) provisionally identified 2n = 62, FN = 72.