NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Dark-footed Forest Shrew
Myosorex cafer (Sundevall, 1846)
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
The dark-footed mouse shrew (Myosorex cafer) is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae found in Mozambique, South Africa, Eswatini, and Zimbabwe. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forests. It was formerly sometimes called the dark-footed forest shrew.
Wikipedia contributors, Dark-footed mouse shrew; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T10:44:23.893600+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Myosorex cafer (Sundevall, 1846)
- Name authority
- (Sundevall, 1846)
- Common name
- Dark-footed Forest Shrew
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Eulipotyphla
- Family
- Soricidae
- Genus
- Myosorex
- 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
- subfamilyMyosoricinae Kretzoi, 1965
- genusMyosorex Gray, 1838
- speciesMyosorex cafer (Sundevall, 1846)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Myosorex. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Babault's Mouse ShrewMyosorex babaulti Heim de Balsac & Lamotte, 1956 | SoricidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Montane Mouse ShrewMyosorex blarina Thomas, 1906 | SoricidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Geata Mouse ShrewMyosorex geata (G. M. Allen & Loveridge, 1927) | SoricidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Kihaule's Mouse ShrewMyosorex kihaulei Stanley & Hutterer, 2000 | SoricidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Long-tailed Forest ShrewMyosorex longicaudatus Meester & Dippenaar, 1978 | SoricidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Thin Mouse ShrewMyosorex tenuis Thomas & Schwann, 1905 | SoricidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Forest ShrewMyosorex varius (Smuts, 1832) | SoricidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Kilimanjaro Mouse ShrewMyosorex zinki Heim de Balsac & Lamotte, 1956 | SoricidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Sclater's Mouse ShrewMyosorex sclateri Thomas & Schwann, 1905 | SoricidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Nyika Mouse ShrewMyosorex gnoskei Kerbis Peterhans et al., 2008 | SoricidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Meester's Mouse ShrewMyosorex meesteri P. J. Taylor et al., 2013 | SoricidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Eisentraut's Mouse ShrewMyosorex eisentrauti Heim de Balsac, 1968 | SoricidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Sorex cafer Sundevall, 1846 Sundevall, 1846 | 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=633708 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:455RL. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.