''Surdisorex'' is a genus of mammals in the family Soricidae. ''Surdisorex'' is one of three genera of African shrews, which, in turn, are one of three living subfamilies of

shrews 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 different f ...

. Species in the genus ''Surdisorex'' are called African mole shrews because of their similarity to

moles Moles can refer to: *Moles de Xert, a mountain range in the Baix Maestrat comarca, Valencian Community, Spain *The Moles (Australian band) *The Moles, alter ego of Scottish band Simon Dupree and the Big Sound People * Abraham Moles, French enginee ...

, to which they are not closely related. The genus ''Surdisorex'' represents Kenya's only

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 ...

genus of mammal. Prior to the description of the

Mount Elgon Mount Elgon is an extinct shield volcano on the border of Uganda and Kenya, north of Kisumu and west of Kitale. The mountain's highest point, named "Wagagai", is located entirely within Uganda.

mole shrew (''Surdisorex schlitteri''), the genus included two species from the highlands of central Kenya; the Aberdare mole shrew (''S. norae'') restricted to the

Aberdare Range The Aberdare Range (formerly the Sattima Range, Kikuyu: ''Nyandarua'') is a 160 km (100 mile) long mountain range of upland, north of Kenya's capital Nairobi with an average elevation of . It straddles across the counties of Nyandarua, Nye ...

and the Mount Kenya mole shrew (''S. polulus'') restricted to

Mount Kenya Mount Kenya ( Kikuyu: ''Kĩrĩnyaga'', Kamba, ''Ki Nyaa'') is the highest mountain in Kenya and the second-highest in Africa, after Kilimanjaro. The highest peaks of the mountain are Batian (), Nelion () and Point Lenana (). Mount Kenya is loc ...

Species

The three species, all found only in Kenya, are: * Aberdare mole shrew (''S. norae'') * Mount Kenya mole shrew (''S. polulus'') * Mount Elgon mole shrew (''S. schlitteri'')

References

Endemic fauna of Kenya Mammal genera Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Shrew-stub