Rhynchocyon

Rhynchocyon is a genus of elephant shrew (or sengi) in the family Macroscelididae.[1] Members of this genus are known colloquially as the checkered elephant shrews[3] or giant sengis.[4] It contains the following five species:[5][2]

Rhynchocyon[1]
Rhynchocyon petersi
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Macroscelidea
Family: Macroscelididae
Genus: Rhynchocyon
Peters, 1847
Species

Rhynchocyon chrysopygus
Rhynchocyon cirnei
Rhynchocyon petersi
Rhynchocyon stuhlmanni[2]
Rhynchocyon udzungwensis

Distribution of three species of Rhynchocyon elephant shrews in Tanzania. Species are typically limited to small, fragmented forest patches within the Eastern Arc Mountains.

The giant sengis are endemic to Africa, and usually live in lowland montane and dense forests.[6] They typically eat insects such as beetles, termites, and centipedes, using their proboscises to dig them from the soil and its tongue to lick them up.[7] They typically build ground level nests for shelter[8] requiring dry leaf litter.[9] Sengis live in monogamous pairs, defending hectare-sized territories.[10][8] R. chrysopyguus, R. cirnei, and R. petersi are allopatrically distributed; with the more recently discovered R. udzungwensis and subspecies R. cirnei reichardi exhibiting parapatric distributions.[11] Some introgression (hybridization) has taken place between R. udzungwensis and R. cirnei reichardi as detected by mtDNA.[11]

References
  1. Schlitter, D.A. (2005). "Genus Rhynchocyon". In Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 84–85. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
  2. Carlen, E.J.; Rathbun, G.B.; Olson, L.E.; Sabuni, C.A.; Stanley, W.T.; Dumbacher, J.P. (2017). "Reconstructing the molecular phylogeny of giant sengis (Macroscelidea; Macroscelididae; Rhynchocyon)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 113: 150–160. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2017.05.012.
  3. ITIS.gov
  4. FitzGibbon, C. & Rathbun, G. (2008). "Rhynchocyon chrysopygus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2008. Retrieved 29 December 2008.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  5. Hoffmann Michael, Rathbun Galen B., Rovero Francesco, Perkin Andrew, Owen Nisha, Burgess Neil (2016). "The distribution of the genus Rhynchocyon in the Eastern Arc Mountains, with an emphasis on the Black-and-rufous Sengi, Rhynchocyon petersi". Afrotherian Conservation. 12: 3–8.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. G. Rathbun. (1984). Elephant-shrews, Order Macroscelidea. In : MacDonald (ed), The Encyclopedia of Mammals. Facts on File Publications, New York: 730-735.
  7. J. Kingdon (1997), The Kingdon Field Guide to African Mammals, Academic Press, pp. 142–152
  8. G. B. Rathbun (1979), "The social structure and ecology of elephant-shrews", Journal of Comparative Ethology, 20: 1–77
  9. Norbert J. Cordeiro, Nathalie Seddon, David R. Capper, Jonathan M. M. Ekstrom, Kim M. Howell, Isabel S. Isherwood, Charles A. M. Msuya, Jonas T. Mushi, Andrew W. Perkin, Robert G. Pople, and William T. Stanley (2005), "Notes on the ecology and status of some forest mammals in four Eastern Arc Mountains", Journal of East African Natural History, 94 (1): 175–189, doi:10.2982/0012-8317(2005)94[175:noteas]2.0.co;2CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. C. D. Fitzgibbon and G. B. Rathbun (1994), "Surveying Rhynchocyon elephant-shrews in tropical forest", African Journal of Ecology, 32: 50–57, doi:10.1111/j.1365-2028.1994.tb00554.x
  11. Lucinda P. Lawson, Cristiano Vernesi, Silvia Ricci, and Francesco Rovero (2013), "Evolutionary History of the Grey-Faced Sengi, Rhynchocyon udzungwensis, from Tanzania: A Molecular and Species Distribution Modelling Approach", PLoS ONE, 8 (8): e72506, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0072506, PMC 3754996CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)


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