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Insectivora
 
 
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The order
Order (biology)

In Biological classification used in biology, the order is a taxonomic rank between class and family . The superorder is a rank between class and order....
 Insectivora (from Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
 insectum "insect" and vorare "to eat") is a now-abandoned biological grouping within the class of mammal
Mammal

Mammals are a class of vertebrate animals whose name is derived from their distinctive feature, mammary glands, with which they feed their young....
s.

In the past, the grouping was used as a scrapbasket for a variety of small to very small, relatively unspecialised, insectivorous mammals. Since any primitive-looking fossil groups of placental mammals were commonly assigned to this order for convenience, it was held to constitute the basal stock out of which other placental orders had evolved.






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The order
Order (biology)

In Biological classification used in biology, the order is a taxonomic rank between class and family . The superorder is a rank between class and order....
 Insectivora (from Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
 insectum "insect" and vorare "to eat") is a now-abandoned biological grouping within the class of mammal
Mammal

Mammals are a class of vertebrate animals whose name is derived from their distinctive feature, mammary glands, with which they feed their young....
s.

In the past, the grouping was used as a scrapbasket for a variety of small to very small, relatively unspecialised, insectivorous mammals. Since any primitive-looking fossil groups of placental mammals were commonly assigned to this order for convenience, it was held to constitute the basal stock out of which other placental orders had evolved. At its widest extent, therefore, the order Insectivora was polyphyletic and cannot be considered a clade
Clade

A clade is a term used in modern alpha taxonomy, the scientific classification of living and fossil organisms, to describe a monophyletic group, defined as a group consisting of a single common ancestor and all its descendants.The term "monophyletic group" is used in this article in the conventional sense of "an a...
.

The taxonomy
Alpha taxonomy

Alpha taxonomy is the science of finding, describing and categorising organisms, thus leading to the recognition of proposed taxonomic groups, or taxon , which may then be naming conventions....
 has been refined in recent years, and treeshrew
Treeshrew

The treeshrews are small mammals native to the tropical forests of Southeast Asia. They make up the Family Tupaiidae and Ptilocercidae and the entire Order Scandentia....
s, elephant shrew
Elephant shrew

Elephant shrews or jumping shrews are small insectivore mammals native to Africa, belonging to the Macroscelididae family, in the order Macroscelidea....
s, and colugo
Colugo

Colugos are arboreal gliding mammals found in South-east Asia. There are just four extant taxon species, which make up the entire family Cynocephalidae and order Dermoptera....
s have now been placed in separate orders, as have many fossil groups that were formerly included here. For some time it was held that the remaining insectivoran families constituted a monophyletic grouping, or clade, to which the name Lipotyphla had long been applied. However, molecular evidence indicated that Chrysochloridae (golden mole
Golden mole

Golden moles are small, insectivorous burrowing mammals native to southern Africa. They form the family Chrysochloridae, and so are taxonomy distinct from the mole ....
s) and Tenrecidae (tenrecs) also should be separated as a new order Afrosoricida
Afrosoricida

The order Afrosoricida contains the golden moles of southern Africa and the tenrecs of Madagascar and Africa, two families of small mammals that have traditionally been considered to be a part of the order Insectivora....
. The species remaining in the clade Insectivora were then referred to as order Eulipotyphla. After further scrutiny, other evidence now indicates that even Erinaceidae (hedgehog
Hedgehog

A hedgehog is any of the spiny mammals of the subfamily Erinaceinae and the Order Erinaceomorpha. There are 16 species of hedgehog in five genus, found through parts of Europe, Asia, Africa, and New Zealand....
s) should also be placed in a separate order from the remainder, comprising the families Soricidae (shrew
Shrew

Shrews are small, superficially mouse-like mammals of the Family Soricidae. Although their external appearance is generally that of a long-nosed mouse, the shrews are not rodents and not closely related: the shrew family is part of the order Soricomorpha....
s), Talpidae (mole
Mole (animal)

Moles are the majority of the members of the mammal family Talpidae in the order Soricomorpha. Although most moles burrow, some species are aquatic or semi-aquatic....
s), Solenodontidae and Nesophontidae. These two orders, Erinaceomorpha and Soricomorpha
Soricomorpha

The Order Soricomorpha is a biological clade within the Class of mammals. In previous years it formed a significant group within the former Insectivora order....
, now replace Insectivora. Molecular studies indicate that Soricomorpha is paraphyletic, because Soricidae shared a more recent common ancestor with Erinaceidae than with other soricomorphs.

  • ORDER INSECTIVORA
    • Family Erinaceidae
      Erinaceidae

      Erinaceidae is the only living family in the order of the Erinaceomorpha. It contains the well-known hedgehogs of Eurasia and Africa and the gymnures or moonrats of South-east Asia....
      • Subfamily Erinaceinae: hedgehog
        Hedgehog

        A hedgehog is any of the spiny mammals of the subfamily Erinaceinae and the Order Erinaceomorpha. There are 16 species of hedgehog in five genus, found through parts of Europe, Asia, Africa, and New Zealand....
        s
      • Subfamily Hylomyinae: moonrats
        Gymnure

        Gymnures, also called Hairy Hedgehogs or Moon Rats, are mammals belonging to the subfamily Galericinae, in the family Erinaceidae and the order Erinaceomorpha....
         and gymnure
        Gymnure

        Gymnures, also called Hairy Hedgehogs or Moon Rats, are mammals belonging to the subfamily Galericinae, in the family Erinaceidae and the order Erinaceomorpha....
        s
    • Family Soricidae
      • Subfamily Crocidurinae: white-toothed shrew
        White-toothed shrew

        The White-toothed shrews or Crocidurinae are one of three subfamilies of the shrew family Soricidae.Unlike the red-toothed shrews, the outer layer of their teeth is white....
        s
      • Subfamily Soricinae: red-toothed shrew
        Red-toothed shrew

        The Red-toothed shrews or Soricinae are one of three living subfamilies: Crocidurinae , Myosoricinae and Soricinae . In addition, the family contains the extinct subfamilies Limnoecinae, Crocidosoricinae, Allosoricinae and Heterosoricinae....
        s
      • Subfamily Myosoricinae: African white-toothed shrews
    • Family Talpidae
      Talpidae

      The family Talpidae includes the mole and the desmans, small insectivore mammals of the order Soricomorpha. Moles are, to varying degrees, subterranean animals, whilst desmans are aquatic....
      • Subfamily Desmaninae: desman
        Desman

        The Desmans or tribe Desmanini are one of several tribes of the mole family Talpidae.This tribe consists of two species of aquatic or semi-aquatic insectivores found in Europe....
        s
      • Subfamily Talpinae: moles
        Mole (animal)

        Moles are the majority of the members of the mammal family Talpidae in the order Soricomorpha. Although most moles burrow, some species are aquatic or semi-aquatic....
      • Subfamily Uropsilinae
        Uropsilinae

        The genus Uropsilus is the only genus in the subfamily Uropsilinae , which is one of three subfamilies of the mole family Talpidae, the others being the Talpinae and the Scalopinae....
        : shrew moles
    • Family Solenodontidae
      Solenodontidae

      Solenodons are venomous, nocturnal, burrowing, insectivorous mammals belonging to the family Solenodontidae. Only one genus, Solenodon, is known, although a few other genera were erected at one time and are now regarded as junior synonyms....
      : solenodons
    • Family Nesophontidae: extinct West Indian shrews


Family-level cladogram of extant insectivoran relationships, following Roca et al.:

These families have been placed within Insectivora in the past:
  • Family Chrysochloridae (golden mole
    Golden mole

    Golden moles are small, insectivorous burrowing mammals native to southern Africa. They form the family Chrysochloridae, and so are taxonomy distinct from the mole ....
    s)
  • Family Tenrecidae
    Tenrecidae

    Tenrecidae is a family of mammals found on Madagascar and parts of Africa. Tenrecs are widely diverse, resembling hedgehogs, shrews, opossums, mouse and even otters, as a result of parallel evolution....
     (tenrecs)
  • Family Macroscelididae (elephant shrew
    Elephant shrew

    Elephant shrews or jumping shrews are small insectivore mammals native to Africa, belonging to the Macroscelididae family, in the order Macroscelidea....
    s)
  • Family Tupaiidae (treeshrew
    Treeshrew

    The treeshrews are small mammals native to the tropical forests of Southeast Asia. They make up the Family Tupaiidae and Ptilocercidae and the entire Order Scandentia....
    s)
  • Family Cynocephalidae (colugo
    Colugo

    Colugos are arboreal gliding mammals found in South-east Asia. There are just four extant taxon species, which make up the entire family Cynocephalidae and order Dermoptera....
    s)


Not to be confused with insectivore
Insectivore

An insectivore is a type of carnivore with a diet that consists chiefly of insects and similar small creatures.Although individually small, insects exist in enormous numbers and make up a very large part of the animal biomass in almost all non-marine environments....
s (the eaters of insects considered as an dietary behaviour), many of which belong to the Order Insectivora.