Cryptotis
| Genus Cryptotis | |
|---|---|
| Taxonomic classification | |
| Order: | Eulipotyphla |
| Suborder: | Erinaceota |
| Superfamily: | Soricoidea |
| Family: | Soricidae |
| Subfamily: | Soricinae |
| Tribe: | Blarinini |
Cryptotis is a genus of North American shrews that are small and have very short tails and small ears that are often not clearly visible. The genus includes 57 recent species distributed through North, Central, and northern South America (Woodman et al., 2026). Three species occur in the United States and are shown below.
Species in the United States
Species not pictured: Berlandier's Least Shrew (Cryptotis berlandieri) and Florida Least Shrew (Cryptotis floridanus).
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North American Least Shrew (Cryptotis parvus)
Range maps for species in the United States
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Berlandier's Least Shrew (Cryptotis berlandieri) -
Florida Least Shrew (Cryptotis floridanus). This species was split from Cryptotis parvus by Galfano et al. (2025). -
North American Least Shrew (Cryptotis parvus)
Available taxon pages
The following species groups are available on WhiskerWiki for this genus:
- Species group: Cryptotis parvus group
- Species group: No information
Skull
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Lateral view of the skull of Cryptotis parvus, scale is 1 mm.
References
Woodman N, DeRaad DA, Colella JP, Wiens BJ, Muñoz P, Timm RM. 2026. Morphological differentiation without genetic divergence in the Florida Least Shrew, Cryptotis floridanus. Journal of Mammalogy 107(4):832–847. https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyag040