Animalia > Chordata > Mammalia > Soricomorpha > Soricidae > Scutisorex > Scutisorex somereni

Scutisorex somereni (Armored Shrew)

Wikipedia Abstract

The hero shrew (Scutisorex somereni), also known as the armored shrew, is a large shrew native to the Congo Basin of Africa. Its features are typical of a white-toothed shrew − short legs, slender snout, dense fur − except for a highly unusual spinal column. It has corrugated interlocking vertebrae that are unique among mammals except for its sister species, Thor's hero shrew. This unique adaptation allows the animal to bear a huge amount of weight on its back − 72 kg (159 lb) according to an expedition team.
View Wikipedia Record: Scutisorex somereni

EDGE Analysis

Uniqueness Scale: Similiar (0) 
3
 Unique (100)
Uniqueness & Vulnerability Scale: Similiar & Secure (0) 
21
 Unique & Vulnerable (100)
ED Score: 7.39
EDGE Score: 2.13
Learn more at EDGE of Existence programme

Attributes

Adult Weight [1]  91.5 grams
Diet [2]  Carnivore (Vertebrates)
Diet - Vertibrates [2]  100 %
Forages - Ground [2]  100 %
Litter Size [3]  2
Snout to Vent Length [3]  6 inches (15 cm)

Ecoregions

Name Countries Ecozone Biome Species Report Climate Land
Use
Albertine Rift montane forests Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi,Tanzania Afrotropic Tropical and Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests
Northeastern Congolian lowland forests Cameroon, Central African Republic, Gabon, Republic of the Congo Afrotropic Tropical and Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests
Victoria Basin forest-savanna mosaic Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Kenya Afrotropic Tropical and Subtropical Grasslands, Savannas, and Shrublands

Protected Areas

Name IUCN Category Area acres Location Species Website Climate Land Use
Kahuzi-Biéga National Park II 1647768 Democratic Republic of the Congo  

Biodiversity Hotspots

Name Location Endemic Species Website
Eastern Afromontane Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Tanzania, Uganda, Yemen, Zimbabwe No

Consumers

Parasitized by 
Afristivalius vancanneyti[4]
Capillaria corneti <Unverified Name>[5]
Ctenophthalmus elblae[4]
Ctenophthalmus hopkinsi rahmi[4]

Range Map

External References

Citations

Attributes / relations provided by
♦ 1Felisa A. Smith, S. Kathleen Lyons, S. K. Morgan Ernest, Kate E. Jones, Dawn M. Kaufman, Tamar Dayan, Pablo A. Marquet, James H. Brown, and John P. Haskell. 2003. Body mass of late Quaternary mammals. Ecology 84:3403
♦ 2Hamish Wilman, Jonathan Belmaker, Jennifer Simpson, Carolina de la Rosa, Marcelo M. Rivadeneira, and Walter Jetz. 2014. EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95:2027
♦ 3Nathan P. Myhrvold, Elita Baldridge, Benjamin Chan, Dhileep Sivam, Daniel L. Freeman, and S. K. Morgan Ernest. 2015. An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96:3109
♦ 4International Flea Database
♦ 5Gibson, D. I., Bray, R. A., & Harris, E. A. (Compilers) (2005). Host-Parasite Database of the Natural History Museum, London
Ecoregions provided by World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF). WildFinder: Online database of species distributions, ver. 01.06 Wildfinder Database
Biodiversity Hotspots provided by Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund
Abstract provided by DBpedia licensed under a Creative Commons License
Species taxanomy provided by GBIF Secretariat (2022). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org on 2023-06-13; License: CC BY 4.0