Cryptotis floridanus
| Florida Least Shrew
(Cryptotis floridanus) | |
|---|---|
| Range | |
 | |
| Taxonomic classification | |
| Order: | Eulipotyphla |
| Suborder: | Erinaceota |
| Superfamily: | Soricoidea |
| Family: | Soricidae |
| Subfamily: | Soricinae |
| Tribe: | Blarinini |
| Genus: | Cryptotis |
| Binomial details | |
| Cryptotis floridanus (C. H. Merriam, 1895) | |
| Other resources | |
| Full taxonomic details at MDD | |
The Florida Least Shrew (Cryptotis floridanus) is a very small gray to gray-brown shrew restricted to peninsular Florida, Key Largo, and southern parts of Georgia. It was considered a subspecies of North American Least Shrew (Cryptotis parvus) until Galfano et al. (2025) found sufficient nuclear and mitochondrial differences to warrant recognition as a distinct species. This split was initially supported by Hutchinson (2010).
Variation
From Woodman et al. (2026): "Despite Key Largo’s geographic position close to mainland Florida, its population of least shrews exhibits “island gigantism,” averaging 14% greater mass and 5% greater cranial length than the peninsular population of C. floridanus."
Skull
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Holotype: USNM 16510. Cryptotis floridanus. Chester Shoal, 11 mi N of Cape Canaveral, Brevard County, Florida. Collected 22 April 1889. Lateral view of the skull. -
Holotype: USNM 16510. Cryptotis floridanus. Chester Shoal, 11 mi N of Cape Canaveral, Brevard County, Florida. Collected 22 April 1889. Dorsal view of the skull. The back of the skull is damaged and pieces are missing. -
Holotype: USNM 16510. Cryptotis floridanus. Chester Shoal, 11 mi N of Cape Canaveral, Brevard County, Florida. Collected 22 April 1889. Ventral view of the skull. The back of the skull is damaged. -
Holotype: USNM 16510. Cryptotis floridanus. Chester Shoal, 11 mi N of Cape Canaveral, Brevard County, Florida. Collected 22 April 1889. Lateral view of the mandible. -
Holotype: USNM 16510. Cryptotis floridanus. Chester Shoal, 11 mi N of Cape Canaveral, Brevard County, Florida. Collected 22 April 1889. Dorsal view of the mandible.
External measurements
Length measurements are in millimeters (mm) and weight measurements are in grams (g), unless stated otherwise. If available, the sample size (n=) is provided. If a range is not provided and n= is not given, then the listed measurement represents an average.
| Part of range | Reference | Total length | Tail length | Hindfoot length | Ear length | Mass |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Florida Keys | Woodman et al. (2026) | 81–93 (n=5) | 19–25 (n=5) | 11–13 (n=5) | 3.7–6.6 (n=5) | |
| Georgia (southeastern) and Florida | Whitaker Jr. & Hamilton Jr. (1998) | 79.5 (n=5) | 21 (n=5) | 11 (n=5) | 4–5 (n=5) | |
| peninsular populations | Woodman et al. (2026) | 69–104 (n=115) | 15–29 (n=115) | 10–14 (n=115) | 2.6–7.0 (n=115) |
Taxonomic notes
From Galfano et al. (2025): "Based on both mitochondrial and nuclear datasets, samples of the subspecies C. p. floridanus are unambiguously highly divergent from the remainder of the C. parvus group, and in fact are the sister taxon to all other species within the group, considering all available data. This includes multi-locus data on both C. berlandieri and C. soricinus, as well as mitochondrial data for two additional species (C. orophilus and C. tropicalis). Given all results, including no evidence of gene flow between C. p. floridanus and C. p. parvus, the former warrants recognition as an independent species, hereafter Cryptotis floridanus, Miller 1912. Given a paucity of samples from the southeast U.S. available for genomic analysis, further sampling of shrews from this region will be essential for investigating reproductive isolation, and the interactions between C. floridanus and C. parvus as environments continue to change."
From Woodman et al. (2026), regarding the Key Largo population of C. floridanus: " Our morphometric analyses showed that the Key Largo population is as divergent morphologically from peninsular C. floridanus as the latter is from C. parvus. Thousands of genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) indicated, however, that the 2 populations of C. floridanus are conspecific and form a discrete clade distantly related to C. parvus. Although individuals from Key Largo are monophyletic, they are nested within the peninsular C. floridanus clade and exhibit low divergence from it. Key Largo C. floridanus presents a clear example of the ability of isolated populations to rapidly (<6 k yr BP) evolve novel morphology, apparently without substantial genetic change."
References
Arctos. 2025. Cryptotis floridanus. Retrieved August 1, 2025, from https://arctos.database.museum/
Galfano TM, Herrera TM, Bulger JB, Stuart JN, Frey JK, Hope AG. 2025. Phylogenomic Analysis of Wide‐Ranging Least Shrews Refines Conservation Priorities and Supports a Paradigm for Evolution of Biota Spanning Eastern North America and Mesoamerica. Ecology and Evolution 15(5).
Hutchinson SJ. 2010. Phylogeography of Cryptotis parva in the United States Using Morphometrics and Population Genetics (Doctoral dissertation, University of North Carolina Wilmington).
Whitaker JO, Hamilton WJ. 1998. Mammals of the eastern United States. Ithaca, (NY, USA): Cornell University Press.
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