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Potamogalidae is the
family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...
of "otter shrews", a group of
semiaquatic In biology, semiaquatic can refer to various types of animals that spend part of their time in water, or plants that naturally grow partially submerged in water. Examples are given below. Semiaquatic animals Semi aquatic animals include: * Ve ...
riverine afrotherian
mammal Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur ...
s indigenous to
sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the List of sov ...
. They are most closely related to the
tenrecs A tenrec is any species of mammal within the afrotherian family Tenrecidae endemic to Madagascar. Tenrecs are wildly diverse; as a result of convergent evolution some resemble hedgehogs, shrews, opossums, rats, and mice. They occupy aquatic, a ...
of
Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Afric ...
, from which they are thought to have split about 47–53 million years ago. They were formerly considered a subfamily of Tenrecidae. All otter shrews are carnivorous, preying on any aquatic animal they can find with their sensitive whiskers, particurally insects. As their common name suggests, they bear a strong, but superficial resemblance to true
otter Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine, with diets based on fish and invertebrates. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which also includes we ...
s to which they are not closely related, nor are they closely related to true
shrew Shrews (family Soricidae) are small mole-like mammals classified in the order Eulipotyphla. True shrews are not to be confused with treeshrews, otter shrews, elephant shrews, West Indies shrews, or marsupial shrews, which belong to differ ...
s. They move through the water by undulating their tail in a side-to-side motion similar to the motions made by a crocodile swimming.


Morphology

Otter shrews have small eyes and ears, consistent with the features of nearly all shrews. They have a broad, flat, muzzle that is substantially covered with sensetive whiskers and ends in a leathery pad. The margins of the hind feet have fringes of skin, and the second and third toes are fused. All species of otter shrews have dense, water repellent fur.


Extant species

Only three species of otter shrew are recognized. Of these, ''P. velox'' has a very broad geographic range, ''M. lamottei'' has a very restricted range, and ''M. ruwenzorii'' is intermediate. Family Potamogalidae * Genus '' Micropotamogale'' (dwarf otter shrews) **
Nimba otter shrew The Nimba otter shrew (''Micropotamogale lamottei'') is a dwarf otter shrew and belongs to the mammal family Potamogalidae. Otter shrews are shrew-like afrotherian mammals found in sub-Saharan Africa. They are most closely related to the tenrecs ...
(''M. lamottei'') **
Ruwenzori otter shrew The Ruwenzori otter shrew (''Micropotamogale ruwenzorii'') is a species of semiaquatic dwarf otter shrew of the family Potamogalidae. It is found in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, and Uganda. Otter shrews are shrew-like afrotheria ...
(''M. ruwenzorii'') * Genus ''
Potamogale The giant otter shrew (''Potamogale velox'') is a semiaquatic, carnivorous afrotherian mammal. It is found in the main rainforest block of central Africa from Nigeria to Zambia, with a few isolated populations in Kenya and Uganda. It lives i ...
'' ** Giant otter shrew (''P. velox'')


Phylogeny

Relations between the various afrotherian orders are still being studied. On the basis of molecular studies, elephants and sirenians appear to be
sister group In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and ...
s. Potamogalids are sisters to tenrecids, and next most closely related to chrysochlorids. These findings are compatible with the work of earlier anatomists.


References

Afrosoricida Aquatic mammals Mammal families {{afrosoricida-stub