Sorex minutissimus Zimmermann 1780

Sorex minutissimus Zimmermann 1780, Geogr. Gesch. Mensch. Vierf. Thiere, 2: 385.

Type Locality: "Yenisei"; given by Stroganov (1957:176) as "iz raiona sela Kiiskow chto na r. Kie (nyne g. Mariinsk Kemerovskoi oblasti)" [= Russia, Kemerovsk. Obl., Mariinsk (= Kiiskoe), bank of Kiia River (near Yenesei River)]; Restricted by Pavlinov and Rossolimo (1987:23) to "Krasnoyarskii kr., Krasnoyarsk." .

Vernacular Names: Eurasian Least Shrew.

Distribution: Taiga zone from Norway, Sweden and Estonia to E Siberia; Sakhalin; Hokkaido, and perhaps Honshu (Japan); Mongolia; China; South Korea.

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Subgenus Sorex or Eurosorex, S. caecutiens group. Karyotype has 2n= 38 (Finland) or 42 (Siberia), FN = 74. Yoshiyuki (1988 a) recognized nine subspecies, but the evidence seems to be weak, and none is recognized here. Ohdachi et al. (1997 b) identified a sister relationship between S. minutissimus and S. hosonoi .