What is the Soricomorpha?
Q: What is the Soricomorpha?
A: The Soricomorpha was a proposed biological group in the class of mammals that includes all the shrews, solenodons and moles.
Q: How many families are in the Soricomorpha?
A: The Soricomorpha is divided into 4 families, one of which is extinct, and the other three are shrews, solenodons and moles.
Q: Why was the Soricomorpha proposed?
A: The Soricomorpha was proposed after the discovery, from sequence analysis, that the old order Insectivora was not a single clade but was polyphyletic.
Q: What is a clade?
A: A clade is a grouping of organisms that includes a common ancestor and all its descendants.
Q: Was the Soricomorpha accepted as a valid group?
A: No, the proposal of the Soricomorpha was discarded when it was discovered that a larger grouping was monophyletic and formed a natural clade of insectivores.
Q: What is the new order of insectivores?
A: The new order of insectivores is Eulipotyphla, which is a larger grouping that is monophyletic and forms a natural clade.
Q: Which animals are included in the order Eulipotyphla?
A: The order Eulipotyphla includes a number of insectivorous mammals such as hedgehogs, shrews, moles, and solenodons.
