The Arizona shrew (Sorex arizonae ) is a species of shrew native to North America.
Vermivore (from Latin vermi, meaning "worm" and vorare, "to devour") is a zoological term for animals that eat worms (including annelids, nematodes...
Te
TerrestrialTerrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land (e.g., cats, ants, snails), as compared with aquatic animals, which liv...
Among animals, viviparity is the development of the embryo inside the body of the parent. The term 'viviparity' and its adjective form 'viviparous'...
A
starts withThe Arizona shrew is one of the smaller species of shrew, with a head and body 5 to 7 cm (2.0 to 2.8 in) in length, and a tail about 4 cm (1.6 in) long. When fully grown, they weigh an average of only 3.5 g (0.12 oz). Their fur ranges from grey to brown, and is paler on the underparts of the animal. Long thought to be the same as Merriam's shrew, it was identified as a separate species in 1977, and can be physically distinguished only by fine details of the skull and teeth.
The Arizona shrew is found in Chihuahua in Mexico, and in southern Arizona and New Mexico in the United States. It inhabits forested mountainous terrain between 1,575 and 2,590 m (5,167 and 8,497 ft) dominated by coniferous trees or by mixed pine and oak. There are no known subspecies.
Arizona shrews inhabit primary forest with heavy undergrowth, and are particularly common in mesic riverine canyons. Despite their preference for such canyons, they are not necessarily found close to open water. They apparently breed between late July and October. They are believed to have diverged from the closely related Merriam's shrew relatively recently, during the late Pleistocene or early Holocene.
