Crocidura fossil map
Where fossils of Crocidura have been found, shown on the Earth as it looked about 0 million years ago and on today’s map.
Dots are fossil collections recorded in the Paleobiology Database. The “then” view moves today’s fossil sites back to their positions 0 million years ago (the time slice nearest the median age of the fossils) using the Merdith et al. (2021) plate model; positions are approximate. Open on the timeline map →
| Group | Early mammals |
|---|---|
| Lived | 23.04 million years ago to the present (Aquitanian to Holocene) |
| Periods | Neogene, Quaternary |
| Family | Soricidae |
| Named by | (Wagler 1832) |
| Fossil records | 374 occurrences at 95 locations (PBDB) |
| Found in | Greece, Italy, Hungary, Zambia, South Africa, Spain, Israel, Côte d'Ivoire, Romania, France … |
| Rock formations | txn:40443, Koobi Fora, Shungura, Tatrot, Vogel River Series, Latamne |
About Crocidura
The genus Crocidura is one of nine genera of the shrew subfamily Crocidurinae. Members of the genus are commonly called white-toothed shrews or musk shrews, although both also apply to all of the species in the subfamily. With over 180 species, Crocidura contains the most species of any mammal genus. The genus name Crocidura comes from Ancient Greek κροκύς (krokús), meaning "piece of wool", and οὐρά (ourá), meaning "tail", and thus, "woolly tail", referring to the species' tails being covered in short hairs interspersed with longer ones.
They are found throughout all tropical and temperate regions of the Old World, from South Africa north to Europe, and east throughout Asia, as far east as the Malay Archipelago. One species, the possibly extinct Christmas Island shrew (C. trichura), also inhabited Christmas Island. They likely originated in Africa or Asia Minor during the Miocene, spread to Europe by the early Pliocene, and spread to eastern Asia and the Mediterranean by the Pleistocene.
Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Crocidura (revision 1377563475), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; introduction excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Ages, family, authority and fossil records: Paleobiology Database, accessed 23 October 2026. Ages are those of the rock layers the fossils were found in. Wikidata: Q935495.
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