Shrews from the Late Pleistocene of Central Kansas, with the Description of a New Species of Sorex

Abstract

Fossil vertebrates, including four species of shrews, have been recovered from late Pleistocene deposits in Rice and Ellis counties, Kansas. Sorex scottensis , S. arcticus , and S. palustris are recorded only from the Ellis County locality. A new species of Sorex was found at both the Rice and Ellis county localities. Mensural parameters and dental characteristics, particularly the robust structure of P4 and the relationship of a small trigonid to a relatively broad talonid on M3, serve to distinguish the new species from the other known taxa of Sorex. An interpretation of the paleoecology, based in part on the preferred habitats of the two extant species of shrews, indicates that a stream-marsh environment with interspered low-lying meadows and deciduous or coniferous trees existed in Ellis County at the time of the deposition of the fossils.