Soricidae

Soricidae [sə′ris·ə‚dē]

(vertebrate zoology)

The shrews, a family of insectivorous mammals belonging to the Lipotyphla.

---

Soricidae 

(shrews), a family of mammals of the order Insectivora. Shrews are very small mouselike animals. They have velvety für and short paws; the head is large, and the snout is elongated and mobile, drawn into a proboscis. Some shrews have brown-tipped teeth. There are 25 genera, found in Europe, Asia, Africa, North America, and the northwestern part of South America.

There are five genera in the USSR: Sorex, Neomys, Crocidura, Suncus, and Diplomesodon. They are omnivorous, but feed primarily on insects and their larvae. They are land animals, and only Neomys (with swimming fans made of stiff hairs on their paws) are semiaquatic. Sorex are very useful; all year round (under the snow in winter) they destroy soil insects and their larvae, which damage agricultural and forest crops. In the course of a day they will eat two to 2½ times their own body weight in food. The family Soricidae includes the world’s smallest mammals: the pygmy shrew and the shrew (body length, 3–4 cm; tail length, 2.5–3 cm; weight, approximately 2 g).