''Soricomys'', the shrew-mice, are a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the Order (biology), order Rodentia ( ), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and Mandible, lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal specie ...

s in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Muridae The Muridae, or murids, are either the largest or second-largest family of rodents and of mammals, containing approximately 870 species, including many species of mice, rats, and gerbils found naturally throughout Eurasia, Africa, and Australia. ...

. They are

carnivore A carnivore , or meat-eater (Latin, ''caro'', genitive ''carnis'', meaning meat or "flesh" and ''vorare'' meaning "to devour"), is an animal or plant Plants are the eukaryotes that form the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae; they ar ...

s that feed on

invertebrate Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordata, chordate s ...

s much like

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 dif ...

s do. An apparently smaller relatives of the true shrew-rats ''

Chrotomys The genus ''Chrotomys'' contain a unique group of rodents found only in the Philippines, specifically the islands of Luzon, Mindoro, and Sibuyan. Instead of being predominantly herbivorous or omnivorous like other murines, these rats feed pre ...

'' and '' Rhynchomys'', ''Soricomys'' are somewhat convergent to the more distantly related ''

Crunomys ''Crunomys'' is a genus of rodent in the family Muridae native to the Philippines and Sulawesi. It contains the following species: * Celebes shrew-rat The Celebes shrew-rat (''Crunomys celebensis'') is a species of rodent in the family Muridae ...

''.Balete ''et al.'' (2006) The

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

are:Musser & Carleton (2005), Balete ''et al.'' (2006) * '' Soricomys kalinga'' * Co's shrew mouse, '' Soricomys leonardocoi'' * Southern Cordillera shrew mouse, '' Soricomys montanus'' * Sierra Madre shrew mouse, '' Soricomys musseri'' ''S. kalinga'' was only discovered on March 30, 2000, and described in 2006.

References

* (2006): A new species of the shrew-mouse, ''Archboldomys'' (Rodentia: Muridae: Murinae), from the Philippines. ''Systematics and Biodiversity'' 4(4): 489–501. (HTML abstract) * (2005): Superfamily Muroidea. ''In:'' : ''Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference'': 894–1531. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore. * (1982): Results of the Archbold Expeditions. No. 110. ''Crunomys'' and the small-bodied shrew rats native to the Philippine Islands and Sulawesi (Celebes). ''Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History'' 174(1): 1-95. Rodents of the Philippines Rodent genera Endemic fauna of the Philippines {{murinae-stub