Dinosorex
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Mammalia
Order:
Eulipotyphla
Family:
Heterosoricidae
Genus:
Dinosorex

Engesser, 1972

Dinosorex is an extinct eulipotyphlan genus, popularly referred to as giant terror shrews[1] due to their fearsome lower incisors. Dinosorex lived in Europe from the late Oligocene or early Miocene to the late Miocene, with a range that stretched from Ukraine to Iberia.[2] It was about the size of a modern hedgehog, but its enlarged and strengthened incisors (which have been found to contain iron particles within the enamel) may have allowed it to adopt a partially carnivorous diet, as opposed to the strictly insectivorous diet of most modern mammals of that size.[1]

Taxonomy

The genus was described in 1972 by B. Engesser.[3] It comprises the following species:[4]

  • D. anatolicus
  • D. engesseri
  • D. huerzeleri
  • D. pachygnathus
  • D. sansaniensis
  • D. zapfei

References

  1. 1 2 Hogenboom, Melissa (27 April 2015). "Mystery of the Giant Terror Shrew". BBC Earth. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
  2. ↑ Furió, M.; et al. (2015). Three million years of "Terror-Shrew" (Dinosorex, Eulipotyphla, Mammalia) in the Miocene of the Vallès-Penedès Basin (Barcelona, Spain). {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  3. ↑ Engesser, B. (1972). "Die obermiozäne Säugetierfauna von Anwil (Baselland); (The Upper Miocene mammalian fauna of Anwil, Baselland)". Tätigkeitsberichte der Naturforschenden Gesellschaft Baselland. 28: 35–364.
  4. ↑ "†Dinosorex Engesser 1972 (placental)". Fossilworks. Retrieved 17 December 2021.


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