NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Chilean 'shrew' opossum
Rhyncholestes raphanurus Osgood, 1924
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 long-nosed caenolestid (Rhyncholestes raphanurus), also known as the Chilean shrew opossum or long-nosed shrew opossum, is a shrew opossum that occurs in temperate forests of Argentina and southern Chile. It was first described by American zoologist Wilfred Hudson Osgood in 1924. The long-nosed caenolestid resembles Caenolestes species in morphology. It is characterized by a long, pointed snout, small eyes and ears, and one claw on a digit of each of the thin limbs. Little is known of its behavior; it appears to be terrestrial (lives on land), nocturnal (active mainly at night) and omnivorous. It prefers cool, moist areas, and has a small distribution. It is classified as near threatened by the IUCN.
Wikipedia contributors, Long-nosed caenolestid; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T10:10:52.573756+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Rhyncholestes raphanurus Osgood, 1924
- Name authority
- Osgood, 1924
- Common name
- Chilean 'shrew' opossum
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Paucituberculata
- Family
- Caenolestidae
- Genus
- Rhyncholestes
- 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
- infraclassMetatheria Huxley, 1880
- orderPaucituberculata Ameghino, 1894
- familyCaenolestidae Trouessart, 1898
- genusRhyncholestes Osgood, 1924
- speciesRhyncholestes raphanurus Osgood, 1924
Close classified relatives
No other member of this genus is present in the selected snapshot.
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=552589 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:4SRXZ. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.