Species: Sorex vagrans

Vagrant Shrew
Species
Mammals
Show on Lists
Terrestrial vertebrates: mammals

Pacific coast: tine present on anteriomedial edge of I1; tail distinctly bicolored in young, indistinctly bicolored in adults; never more than 4 pairs of friction pads on the second to fourth digits of hind feet; level of pigmentation at or below level of median tine on I1; body size small to medium; U5 triangular, body of U1s not touching, P4 overlapping U5; zygomatic process of maxillary pointed (Carraway 1990).

Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Craniata
Class

Mammalia

Order

Soricomorpha

Family

Soricidae

Genus

Sorex

Natureserve Explorer
Source:
ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.106262
Classification
Other Global Common Names
Una Musaraña - Wandering Shrew - musaraigne errante
Informal Taxonomy
Animals, Vertebrates - Mammals - Other Mammals
Formal Taxonomy
Animalia - Craniata - Mammalia - Soricomorpha - Soricidae - Sorex - See George (1988) for an electrophoretic study of systematic relationships among SOREX species. S. MONTICOLUS (which now includes S. M. OBSCURUS) is considered distinct from S. VAGRANS (Hennings and Hoffman 1977). SOREX VAGRANS SONOMAE (of California and Oregon) were elevated by Carraway (1990) to full species status (including 2 subspecies: SONOMAE and newly described TENELLIODUS). SOREX MONTICOLUS BAIRDII, which formerly has been included in SOREX VAGRANS, was regraded by Carraway (1990) as a distinct species, SOREX BAIRDII with 2 subspecies (BAIRDII and PERMILIENSIS). Jones et al. (1992) and Hutterer (in Wilson and Reeder 1993) followed Carraway (1990) in regarding S. VAGRANS, S. MONTICOLUS, S. BAIRDII, and S. SONOMAE as separate species. Carraway (1990) subsumed S. TRIGONIROSTRIS into S. VAGRANS and did not indicate that TRIGONIROSTRIS deserved even subspecific status.

Pacific coast: tine present on anteriomedial edge of I1; tail distinctly bicolored in young, indistinctly bicolored in adults; never more than 4 pairs of friction pads on the second to fourth digits of hind feet; level of pigmentation at or below level of median tine on I1; body size small to medium; U5 triangular, body of U1s not touching, P4 overlapping U5; zygomatic process of maxillary pointed (Carraway 1990).

Migration
true - false - false
Non-migrant
true
Locally Migrant
false
Food Comments
Primarily feeds on forest insects (eggs, larvae, pupae, and adults), slugs, earthworms, and other invertebrates. Occasionally may feed on salamanders and other small vertebrates.
Reproduction Comments
Breeding may occur from March-September, but most activity occurs in spring between March and May. Average litter size is 5.2, but may range from 2-9. Gestation lasts approximately 20 days (van Zyll de Jong 1983).
Ecology Comments
In southern British Columbia, mean home range size was estimated at 1039 sq m for nonbreeding and 3258 sq m for breeding individuals. In an old field community in western Washington, annual crude density was estimated at 36.6 shrews/ha (van Zyll de Jong 1983).
Length
12
Weight
9
NatureServe Global Status Rank
G5
Global Status Last Reviewed
2005-02-28
Global Status Last Changed
1996-11-01
Other Status

LC - Least concern

Conservation Status Map
<img src="http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/servlet/GetMapGif?CA.AB=S1&CA.BC=S5&US.CA=SNR&US.ID=S5&US.MT=S4&US.NN=S3&US.NV=S4&US.OR=S4&US.UT=S3&US.WA=S5&US.WY=S5" alt="Conservation Status Map" style="width: 475px; height: auto;" />
Global Range
H - >2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles) - H - Western North America; from southern British Columbia (Nagorsen 1996) and extreme southwestern Alberta (Smith 1988) south to coastal north-central California, the Sierra Nevada of California, central Nevada, the Wasatch Mountains of Utah, and western Wyoming; disjunct population at the southern end of the Mexican Plateau in central Mexico (Verts and Carraway 1998, Gillihan and Foresman 2004).
Global Range Code
H
Global Range Description
>2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles)
ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.106262