Macroscelididae

Sengis, also called elephant shrews or jumping shrews, are small insectivorous mammals native to Africa, belonging to the family Macroscelididae, in the order Macroscelidea. Their traditional common English name "elephant shrew" comes from a perceived resemblance between their long noses and the trunk of an elephant, and their superficial similarity with shrews in the order Eulipotyphla. However, phylogenetic analysis has revealed that the family was not properly classified with true shrews, in fact being more closely related to elephants. In 1997, the biologist Jonathan Kingdon proposed that they instead be called "sengis", a term derived from the Bantu languages of Africa, and in 1998, they were classified into the new clade Afrotheria.

Macroscelididae

Joey Makalintal from Pennsylvania, USA · CC BY 2.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
elephant shrewPBDB
Sits inside
MacroscelideaPBDB
Diet
insectivorePBDB
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 48 million years on record.

The record covers at least 48.07 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 56 Mya to 0 Mya.

Paleocene — about 0 of 52 occurrencesEocene — about 9 of 52 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 2 of 52 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 5 of 52 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 17 of 52 occurrencesPleistocene — about 16 of 52 occurrences57–55 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences55–53 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences53–51 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences51–50 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences50–48 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences48–46 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences46–44 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences44–42 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences42–40 Mya — about 1 occurrence40–38 Mya — about 2 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences36–34 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences34–32 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences32–30 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences29–27 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences25–23 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23–21 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences21–19 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences19–17 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences15–13 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 1 occurrence11–9.5 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences9.5–7.6 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences7.6–5.7 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences5.7–3.8 Mya — about 8 occurrences3.8–1.9 Mya — about 13 occurrences1.9–0 Mya — about 15 occurrences48.07 Mya11.7 ka57 Mya0 Mya

52 occurrences of Macroscelididae on record, most of them in the Pliocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

52 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

13 formations

Makapansgat — 24.20°S, 28.95°EKromdraai — 26.00°S, 27.75°EVarswater — 32.98°S, 18.15°ESwartkrans — 26.02°S, 27.72°EOlduvai — 2.99°S, 35.34°EJebel Qatrani — 29.50°N, 30.50°EJebel Qatrani — 29.45°N, 30.58°EVarswater & Bredasdorp — 32.98°S, 18.15°EKanapoi — 2.32°N, 36.07°EUpper Koru Series — 0.23°S, 35.34°ELothidok — 3.33°N, 35.75°EGlib Zegdou — 30.00°N, 4.00°WChambi — 35.19°N, 8.65°ENakali — 1.18°N, 36.37°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Macroscelididae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 17 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Macroscelididae and its relatives

Pliocene

Where Macroscelididae and its relatives were recorded in the Pliocene.

Found in the same rock

804 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 39 sites for Macroscelididae, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

37 references

Each of the 52 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 25 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Macroscelididae

Credit
Joey Makalintal from Pennsylvania, USA
Licence
CC BY 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Macroscelididae was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itMacroscelidea through timeFormations of the PlioceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Bonaparte 1838