Asoriculus
 | It has been suggested that this article should be split into a new article titled Nesiotites. (discuss) (February 2022) |
| Asoriculus Temporal range:
| |
|---|---|
| |
| Jaws of Asoriculus corsicanus, with a pencil tip (bottom left) for scale. | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Eulipotyphla |
| Family: | Soricidae |
| Tribe: | Nectogalini |
| Genus: | †Asoriculus Kretzoi, 1959 |
| Type species | |
| †Crocidura gibberodon Petényi, 1864
| |
| Species | |
Species assigned to Nesiotites:
| |
Asoriculus is an extinct genus of terrestrial shrews in the subfamily Soricinae (red-toothed shrews) and tribe Nectogalini. The best known species, Asoriculus gibberodon was widespread in Europe from the Late Miocene to the Early Pleistocene.[1] Insular species are known from the Mediterranean islands of Sicily (A. burgioi Late Pliocene-Early Pleistocene), and Corsica-Sardinia including A. corsicanus (Late Pliocene-Early Pleistocene) and A. similis (Early Pleistocene-Late Pleistocene/Holocene).[2][3] A. similis likely survived into the Holocene, when it became extinct after human settlement of the islands.[4] The genus Nesiotites (Late Miocene/Early Pliocene-Holocene) from the Balearic Islands, including the chronospecies N. rafelinensis (earliest Pliocene), N. ponsi (Late Pliocene) and N. hidalgo (Middle Pleistocene-Holocene) is considered to descend from Asoriculus, likely A. gibberodon. The insular species of Asoriculus from Sicily and Corsica-Sardinia were formerly included in Nesiotites, but Nesiotites was later circumscribed to only include the Balearic species, as otherwise the genus would likely be polyphyletic.[5] The last Nesiotites chronospecies, N. hidalgo, became extinct shortly after human settlement of the Balearics around 2500 BC.[4] Both the insular species of Asoriculus and Nesiotites are larger than A. gibberodon, which has been suggested to be the result of island gigantism, with the Nesiotites lineage experiencing a gradual increase in size over time.[2] Based on DNA from Nesotites, and morphological similarities Asoriculus is considered to be most closely related to the Himalayan shrew (Soriculus). A molecular clock analysis suggests that Himalayan shrews and Balearic shrews diveraged approximately 6.44 million years ago.[1]
References[edit]
- ^ a b Bover, Pere; Mitchell, Kieren J.; Llamas, Bastien; Rofes, Juan; Thomson, Vicki A.; Cuenca-Bescós, Gloria; Alcover, Josep A.; Cooper, Alan; Pons, Joan (August 2018). "Molecular phylogenetics supports the origin of an endemic Balearic shrew lineage (Nesiotites) coincident with the Messinian Salinity Crisis". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 125: 188–195. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2018.03.028. PMID 29608962.
- ^ a b Moncunill-Sole, B.; Jordana, X.; Köhler, M. (2016). "How common is gigantism in insular fossil shrews? Examining the 'Island Rule' in soricids (Mammalia: Soricomorpha) from Mediterranean Islands using new body mass estimation models". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society. 178 (1): 163–182. doi:10.1111/zoj.12399.
- ^ Palombo, Maria Rita (January 2018). "Insular mammalian fauna dynamics and paleogeography: A lesson from the Western Mediterranean islands". Integrative Zoology. 13 (1): 2–20. doi:10.1111/1749-4877.12275. ISSN 1749-4877. PMC 5817236. PMID 28688123.
- ^ a b Valenzuela, Alejandro; Torres-Roig, Enric; Zoboli, Daniel; Pillola, Gian Luigi; Alcover, Josep Antoni (2021-11-29). "Asynchronous ecological upheavals on the Western Mediterranean islands: New insights on the extinction of their autochthonous small mammals". The Holocene: 095968362110604. doi:10.1177/09596836211060491. ISSN 0959-6836.
- ^ Rofes, J.; Bover, P.; Cuenca-Bescós, G.; Alcover, J.A. (2012). "Nesiotites rafelinensis sp. nov., the earliest shrew (Mammalia, Soricidae) from the Balearic Islands, Spain". Palaeontologia Electronica. 15 (1): 8A. doi:10.26879/282.
 | This article about a red-toothed shrew is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |