Northern Short-tailed Shrew - Taxonomy

Taxonomy

B. brevicauda is a red-toothed shrew, one of three or four species (depending on the authority) in the genus Blarina. It was formerly considered to be a sister subspecies of the southern short-tailed shrew (Blarina carolinensis). The species has been divided into 11 subspecies based on morphological characteristics, which are grouped into two semispecies: brevicauda and talpoides. These groupings were mirrored by a molecular systematics study of the mitochondrial cytochrome b sequence. The two groups of subspecies are thought to have been kept isolated from each other by Pleistocene glaciers.