Tail-less Tenrec

Open encyclopedia reference

The tailless tenrec (Tenrec ecaudatus), also known as the common tenrec, is a species of mammal in the family Tenrecidae. It is the only member of the genus Tenrec. Native to Madagascar, it is also found on the Comoros, Mauritius, Réunion, and Seychelles island groups, where it has been purposely introduced. Its natural habitat is the understory of subtropical-tropical forest, open forest, arid shrub-land, savanna, arable land, pastures, crop plantations, private gardens, and some landscaped, urban areas. The tailless tenrec is the largest species of the tenrec family, Tenrecidae. It is 26 to 39 cm (10 to 15 in) in length and weighs up to 2 kilograms (4.4 lb). It has medium-sized, coarse grey to reddish-grey fur and long, sharp spines along its body. The animal is omnivorous, and unlike the herbivorous rodents for which it is often mistaken, possesses small, needle-like sharp teeth for a diet of larger invertebrates, frogs, reptiles, mice, and other small mammals, as well as fruits, leaves, and other vegetation.

Wikipedia contributors, Tailless tenrec; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T05:23:32.998620+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Tenrec ecaudatus (Schreber, 1778)

Name authority

(Schreber, 1778)

Common name

Tail-less Tenrec

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Mammalia

Order

Afrosoricida

Family

Tenrecidae

Genus

Tenrec

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.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. megaclassTetrapoda
8. classMammalia Linnaeus, 1758
9. subclassTheria Parker & Haswell, 1897
10. infraclassEutheria Gill, 1872
11. orderAfrosoricida Stanhope, 1998
12. suborderTenrecomorpha Butler, 1972
13. familyTenrecidae Gray, 1821
14. subfamilyTenrecinae Gray, 1821
15. genusTenrec Lacépède, 1799
16. speciesTenrec ecaudatus (Schreber, 1778)

Close classified relatives

No other member of this genus is present in the selected snapshot.

Browse 26 records assigned to Tenrecidae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

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.

1. https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=633515 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:55B5L. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.