NATURAL HISTORY · CATALOGUE RECORD
Climbing Shrew
Suncus megalurus (Jentink, 1888)
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 climbing shrew (Suncus megalurus) is a species of mammal in the family Soricidae, which is found in subtropical Africa. It is found in Angola, Benin, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland and montane forests, and moist savanna.
Wikipedia contributors, Climbing shrew; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T03:37:45.731749+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Suncus megalurus (Jentink, 1888)
- Name authority
- (Jentink, 1888)
- Common name
- Climbing Shrew
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Eulipotyphla
- Family
- Soricidae
- Genus
- Suncus
- 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
- genusSuncus Ehrenberg, 1832
- speciesSuncus megalurus (Jentink, 1888)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Suncus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Day's ShrewSuncus dayi (Dobson, 1888) | SoricidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Etruscan ShrewSuncus etruscus (Savi, 1822) | SoricidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Sri Lanka ShrewSuncus fellowesgordoni W. W. A. Phillips, 1932 | SoricidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Least Dwarf ShrewSuncus infinitesimus (Heller, 1912) | SoricidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Malayan Pygmy ShrewSuncus malayanus (Kloss, 1917) | SoricidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Lesser Dwarf ShrewSuncus varilla (Thomas, 1895) | SoricidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Jungle ShrewSuncus zeylanicus Phillips, 1928 | SoricidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Bornean Pgymy ShrewSuncus hosei (Thomas, 1893) | SoricidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Nilgiri Highland ShrewSuncus niger Horsfield, 1851 | SoricidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Taita ShrewSuncus aequatorius (Heller, 1912) | SoricidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Black ShrewSuncus ater Medway, 1965 | SoricidaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extant |
| Greater Dwarf ShrewSuncus lixa (Thomas, 1898) | 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 |
|---|---|
| Suncus megalura (Jentink, 1888) (Jentink, 1888) | synonym |
| Sylvisorex megalura (Jentink, 1888) (Jentink, 1888) | synonym |
| Pachyura megalura Jentink, 1888 Jentink, 1888 | 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=1229323 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:53G5Z. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.