Soricomorpha

{{Short description|Formerly used suborder of mammals}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| name = Soricomorpha{{MSW3 Hutterer | pages = 220–311 | id = 13700001 | heading = Order Soricomorpha}}

| fossil_range = {{Fossil range|Early Paleocene|Recent}}

| image = southern short-tailed shrew.jpg

| image_alt = Southern short-tailed shrew

| image_caption = Southern short-tailed shrew

| taxon = Soricomorpha

| authority = Gregory 1910Gregory, W. K. 1910. The orders of mammals. Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist.27:1–524. https://books.google.com/books?id=z0IZAAAAYAAJ&q=Soricomorpha&pg=PA465

| synonyms =

| synonyms_ref =

| subdivision_ranks = Families

| subdivision =

}}

Soricomorpha (from Greek "shrew-form") is a formerly used taxon within the class of mammals. In the past it formed a significant group within the former order Insectivora. However, Insectivora was shown to be polyphyletic and various new orders were split off from it, including Afrosoricida (tenrecs, golden moles, otter shrews), Macroscelidea (elephant shrews), and Erinaceomorpha (hedgehogs and gymnures), with the four remaining extant and recent families of Soricomorpha shown here then being treated as a separate order. Insectivora was left empty and disbanded.

Subsequently, Soricomorpha itself was shown to be paraphyletic, because Soricidae shared a more recent common ancestor with Erinaceidae than with other soricomorphs.{{cite journal |author1=A. L. Roca |author2=G. K. Bar-Gal |author3=E. Eizirik |author4=K. M. Helgen |author5=R. Maria |author6=M. S. Springer |author7=S. J. O'Brien |author8=W. J. Murphy |name-list-style=amp | year = 2004 | title = Mesozoic origin for West Indian insectivores | journal = Nature | volume = 429 | issue = 6992| pages = 649–651 | doi = 10.1038/nature02597 | pmid = 15190349|bibcode=2004Natur.429..649R |s2cid=915633 }} The combination of Soricomorpha and Erinaceidae, referred to as order Eulipotyphla, has been shown to be monophyletic.{{cite journal | author = Robin M. D. Beck | author2 = Olaf R. P. Bininda-Emonds | author3 = Marcel Cardillo | author4 = Fu-Guo Robert Liu | author5 = Andy Purvis | name-list-style = amp | year = 2006 | title = A higher level MRP supertree of placental mammals | journal = BMC Evolutionary Biology | volume = 6 | doi = 10.1186/1471-2148-6-93 | pmid = 17101039 | pages = 93 | pmc = 1654192 | doi-access = free }}

Living members of the group range in size from the Etruscan shrew, at about {{Convert|3.5|cm|abbr=on}} and {{Convert|2|g|4=2}}, to the Cuban solenodon, at about {{Convert|32|cm|abbr=on}} and {{Convert|1|kg|abbr=on}}.

References

{{Commons category|Soricomorpha}}

{{Wikispecies|Soricomorpha}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Soricomorpha}}

{{Mammals}}

{{Portal bar|Mammals|Animals|Biology}}

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Category:Taxa named by William King Gregory

Category:Extant Eocene first appearances

Category:Paraphyletic groups

Category:Eulipotyphla

Category:Obsolete mammal taxa