NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Kelaart's Long-clawed Shrew
Feroculus feroculus (Kelaart, 1850)
Source-backed taxonomic record
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
Kelaart's long-clawed shrew (Feroculus feroculus) is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae. It is the only species within the genus Feroculus. It is endemic to Sri Lanka and southern India. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests and grassland, and swamps. It is threatened by habitat loss. The species is named for zoologist Edward Frederick Kelaart.
Head and body length is 11–12 cm (4.3–4.7 in). Tail is 7–8 cm (2.8–3.1 in) long. Pelage cloe, soft, and short. Uniform ashy-black above, paler and glossy below. Forefeet almost white, very long and reddish claws. Tail covered by fine hairs as well as a few bristly long hairs.
Wikipedia contributors, Kelaart's long-clawed shrew; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T11:45:09.714498+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Feroculus feroculus (Kelaart, 1850)
- Name authority
- (Kelaart, 1850)
- Common name
- Kelaart's Long-clawed Shrew
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Eulipotyphla
- Family
- Soricidae
- Genus
- Feroculus
- Extinction status
- Recorded extant
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- megaclassTetrapoda
- classMammalia Linnaeus, 1758
- subclassTheria Parker & Haswell, 1897
- infraclassEutheria Gill, 1872
- orderEulipotyphla Waddell, Okada & Hasegawa, 1999
- familySoricidae G. Fischer, 1814
- subfamilyCrocidurinae A. Milne-Edwards, 1872
- genusFeroculus Kelaart, 1852
- speciesFeroculus feroculus (Kelaart, 1850)
Close classified relatives
No other member of this genus is present in the selected snapshot.
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Sorex feroculus Kelaart, 1850 Kelaart, 1850 | synonym |
Documented distribution
Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=633705 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:3DYV6. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.