The Sri Lankan shrew (''Suncus fellowesgordoni''), also called Gordon's pygmy shrew, is a species of
mammal in the family
Soricidae. It is
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...
to
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
. It is threatened by
habitat loss
Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...
. It is known as හික් මීයා () in
Sinhala. It was named after the wife of
A. C. Tutein-Nolthenius, Marjory née Fellowes-Gordon, who collected specimens of the shrew and provided them to Phillips.
Description
Sri Lankan shrews have a head and body length of with a tail long. Females are larger than males. They are dark chocolate brown to blackish brown above and dark gray with a silver sheen below. The throat is very gray in color, while the snout, ears, and forefeet are pink and the claws reddish brown. The tail has gray hairs that are dark above and light below.
References
Suncus
Mammals of Sri Lanka
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot
Mammals described in 1932
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