Editing Insectivora

{{short description|Now abandoned biological grouping}}
{{for|the general insect-eating behavior|Insectivore}}
{{EngvarB|date=July 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2022}}
[[File: Hedgehog-en.jpg|thumb|[[European hedgehog]] (''Erinaceus europaeus'')]]

The [[Order (biology)|order]] '''Insectivora''' (from [[Latin]] ''insectum'' "insect" and ''vorare'' "to eat") is a now-abandoned biological grouping within the class of [[mammal]]s. Some species have now been moved out, leaving the remaining ones in the order [[Eulipotyphla]] within the larger clade [[Laurasiatheria]], which makes up one of the [[Basal (phylogenetics)|basal]] [[clades]] of [[placental]] [[mammal]]s.

==History==
[[File:Centetodon marginalis, cropped.JPG|thumb|The extinct ''[[Centetodon marginalis]]'']] 
Before the era of widespread [[DNA sequencing]], the grouping was used as a [[Polyphyly|polyphyletic]] taxon for a variety of small to very small, relatively unspecialised mammals that feed upon insects. Since any primitive-looking fossil group of [[placental]] mammals was commonly assigned to this order for convenience, it was held to constitute the basal stock out of which other placental orders had evolved. Therefore, at its widest extent, the order Insectivora represented an [[evolutionary grade]] rather than a [[clade]].

Taxonomy has been refined in recent years, and [[treeshrew]]s, [[elephant shrew]]s, and [[colugo]]s have now been placed in separate orders, as have many fossil groups that were formerly included here. For some time it was held that the remaining insectivoran families constituted a [[monophyletic]] grouping, or clade, to which the name '''[[Lipotyphla]]''' had long been applied. However, molecular evidence indicated that Chrysochloridae ([[golden mole]]s), Tenrecidae ([[tenrec]]s), and Potamogalidae ([[Potamogalidae|otter shrews]]) should also be separated as a new order [[Afrosoricida]].

Erinaceidae ([[hedgehog]]s) was then also split off into a separate order ([[Erinaceomorpha]]) from the remainder (termed [[Soricomorpha]]), comprising the families Soricidae ([[Shrew (animal)|shrew]]s), Talpidae ([[mole (animal)|moles]]), Solenodontidae, and Nesophontidae.<ref>{{MSW3 Hutterer | pages = 212–311}}</ref> These two orders then replaced Insectivora. This scheme was undermined when molecular studies indicated that Soricomorpha is [[paraphyletic]], because Soricidae shared a more recent common ancestor with Erinaceidae than with other soricomorphs.<ref name=Rocaetal04>{{cite journal | author = Roca, A.L., G.K. Bar-Gal, E. Eizirik, K.M. Helgen, R. Maria, M.S. Springer, S.J. O'Brien, and W.J. Murphy | year = 2004 | title = Mesozoic origin for West Indian insectivores | journal = Nature | volume = 429 | issue = 6992| pages = 649–651 | doi = 10.1038/nature02597 | pmid = 15190349| bibcode = 2004Natur.429..649R | s2cid = 915633 }}</ref>

However, the combination of Soricidae and Erinaceidae, referred to as order '''[[Eulipotyphla]]''', has been shown to be monophyletic.<ref name=Beck>{{cite journal |author1=Robin MD Beck |author2=Olaf RP Bininda-Emonds |author3=Marcel Cardillo |author4=Fu-Guo Robert Liu |author5=Andy Purvis | year = 2006 | title = A higher level MRP supertree of placental mammals | journal = BMC Evolutionary Biology | volume = 6 | url= | doi = 10.1186/1471-2148-6-93 | pmid = 17101039 | pages = 93 | pmc = 1654192 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

== Classification ==

* '''Order [[Eulipotyphla]] (remnant of 'Insectivora')'''
** '''Family [[Erinaceidae]]'''
*** Subfamily Erinaceinae: [[hedgehog]]s
*** Subfamily Hylomyinae: [[gymnure|moonrats]] and [[gymnure]]s
** '''Family [[Soricidae]]'''
*** [[File:Southern short-tailed shrew.jpg|thumb|A [[Shrew]].]]Subfamily Crocidurinae: [[white-toothed shrew]]s                               
*** Subfamily Soricinae: [[red-toothed shrew]]s
*** Subfamily Myosoricinae: [[African white-toothed shrew]]s
** '''Family [[Talpidae]]'''
*** Subfamily Desmaninae: [[desman]]s
*** Subfamily Talpinae: [[Mole (animal)|moles]]
*** Subfamily Uropsilinae: [[shrew moles]]
** '''Family [[Solenodontidae]]''': solenodons
** '''Family [[Nesophontidae]]''': extinct West Indian shrews

Family-level cladogram of extant insectivoran relationships, following Roca et al.:<ref name=Rocaetal04/>

{{clade
|label1='''[[Eulipotyphla]]'''
|1={{clade
   |1 = [[Solenodontidae]]
   |2 = {{clade
        |1 = [[Talpidae]]
        |2 ={{clade
               |1 = [[Soricidae]]
               |2 = [[Erinaceidae]]
            }}
         }}
    }}
}}

These families have been placed within Insectivora in the past:
:* Family [[Chrysochloridae]] ([[golden mole]]s)
:* Family [[Tenrecidae]] ([[tenrec]]s)
:*Family [[Potamogalidae]] ([[Potamogalidae|otter shrews]])
:* Family [[Macroscelididae]] ([[elephant shrew]]s)
:* Family [[Tupaiidae]] ([[Tupaiidae|true treeshrews]])
:*Family [[Pen-tailed treeshrew|Ptilocercidae]] ([[pen-tailed treeshrew]])
:* Family [[Cynocephalidae]] ([[colugo]]s)

Not to be confused with [[insectivore]]s (the eaters of insects considered as a [[List of feeding behaviours|feeding behavior]]), many of which do not belong to Eulipotyphla or the other taxa formerly included within Insectivora.

== See also ==
* [[Afroinsectiphilia]]
* [[Lipotyphla]], a taxon proposed to replace part of Insectivora but later superseded by Eulipotyphla

== References ==
{{Commons category}}
{{Wikispecies}}
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Insectivora |volume=14 |pages=638–644 |first=Richard |last=Lydekker |short=1}}

{{Mammals}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Obsolete mammal taxa]]
[[Category:Polyphyletic groups]]