Gymnure

{{short description|Subfamily of mammals}} {{more citations needed|date=September 2011}} {{Automatic taxobox | name = Gymnures<ref name="MSW3" /> | image = Hylomys suillus dorsalis.jpg | image_caption = Bornean short-tailed gymnure | taxon = Galericinae | authority = Pomel, 1848 | subdivision_ranks = Genera | subdivision_ref = <ref name="Lopatin06" /> | subdivision = * {{Extinct}}''Apulogalerix''<ref name="Masini13" /> * {{Extinct}}''Deinogalerix'' * {{Extinct}}''Dzavui''<ref name="Jiménez-Hidalgo22" /> * ''Echinosorex'' * {{Extinct}}''Eochenus'' * {{Extinct}}''Eogalericius'' * {{Extinct}}''Galerix'' * ''Hylomys'' * {{Extinct}}''Lantanotherium'' * {{Extinct}}''Microgalericulus'' * ''Neohylomys'' * ''Neotetracus'' * {{Extinct}}''Neurogymnurus'' * {{Extinct}}''Ocajila'' * {{Extinct}}''Oligochenus'' * {{Extinct}}''Parasorex'' * ''Podogymnura'' * {{Extinct}}''Proterix'' * {{Extinct}}''Protogalericius'' * {{Extinct}}''Pseudoneurogymnurus'' * {{Extinct}}''Riddleria''<ref name="HoekOstende03" /> * {{Extinct}}''Schizogalerix'' * {{Extinct}}''Tetracus'' * {{Extinct}}''Thaiagymnura'' }}

'''Gymnures''', also called '''hairy hedgehogs''' or '''moonrats''', are mammals belonging to the subfamily '''Galericinae''', in the family Erinaceidae and the order Eulipotyphla. Gymnures may resemble rats but are not closely related; they are not rodents at all, but instead are closely related to hedgehogs, being their sister group within Erinaceidae. They are thought to have appeared in Eastern Asia {{Vague|date=September 2025|text=before their closest relatives,}} and changed little from the original ancestor, which is thought to have been also the ancestor of the shrews.{{Citation needed|date=September 2025|reason=Yet they aren't that closely related to shrews? Is this talking about how they are "living fossils"?}}

==Description== Although the gymnures are closest related to the hedgehogs, full-grown gymnures superficially resemble large rats, shrews, and opossums as a result of convergent evolution.

The gymnure's body plan is believed to resemble that of the earliest mammals,{{citation needed|date=September 2016}} with a large, toothy head about 1/3 the length of the total body, a naked furless tail for balance and thermoregulatory purposes, and a plantigrade stance. In direct contrast to the closely related hedgehogs, gymnures are not spiny.<ref name= "Feldhamer15" />

Gymnures are primarily carnivorous. They are nocturnal or crepuscular: they come out to forage at twilight or in the night to search the forest floor, using their outstanding sense of smell and tactile response in the snout region,{{Citation needed|date=September 2025}} to forage for food. Gymnures eat various arthropods, mice, small reptiles and amphibians, with occasional fruit and fungi.{{Citation needed|date=September 2025}}

Gymnures keep territories, and individuals are solitary except when breeding. Gymnures have a very strong scent, typically described as a rancid garlic or onion smell, which is produced by its territory marking scent glands. Several creatures similar in form and niche, such as the opossum and solenodon, have an odor similar to the gymnure's.{{Citation needed|date=September 2025}}

===Distribution=== Gymnures inhabit moist jungle terrain in various locales of Southeast Asia, including Vietnam, Sumatra, China and the Malay Peninsula.{{Citation needed|date=September 2025}} Fossil gymnures such as ''Deinogalerix'' have been found from Europe.<ref>{{Cite journal|author1=Andrea Savorelli |author2=Federico Masini |author3=Paul P. A. Mazza |author4=Maria Adelaide Rossi |author5=Silvano Agostini |year=2017 |title=New species of ''Deinogalerix'' (Mammalia, Eulipotyphla) from the late Miocene of Scontrone (Abruzzo, central Italy) |journal=Palaeontologia Electronica |volume=20 |issue=1 |pages=Article number 20.1.16A |url=http://palaeo-electronica.org/content/2017/1658-deinogalerix-from-scontrone |doi=10.26879/672 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

==Classification== {{seealso|List of erinaceids}} This subfamily has alternately been called Echinosoricinae, Galericinae, and Hylomyinae. Some researchers prefer Hylomyinae because the specific relationships of the extinct genus ''Galerix'' to living erinaceids are uncertain.<ref name="Gould95" /> There are fifteen extant species in six genera:<ref name="MSW3" /><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hinckley |first1=A. |last2=Camacho-Sanchez |first2=M. |last3=Chua |first3=M.A. |last4=Ruedi |first4=M. |last5=Lunde |first5=D. |last6=Maldonado |first6=J.E. |last7=Omar |first7=H. |last8=Leonard |first8=J.A. |last9=Hawkins |first9=M.T. |display-authors=2 |year=2023 |title=An integrative taxonomic revision of lesser gymnures (Eulipotyphla: ''Hylomys'') reveals five new species and emerging patterns of local endemism in Tropical East Asia |journal=Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society |volume=202 |issue=2 |article-number=zlad177 |doi=10.1093/zoolinnean/zlad177|doi-access=free |hdl=10261/385911 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> *Genus ''Echinosorex'' **''Echinosorex gymnura'' (moonrat) *Genus ''Hylomys'' **''Hylomys parvus'' (dwarf gymnure) **''Hylomys suillus'' (Javan short-tailed gymnure or lesser moonrat) **''Hylomys dorsalis'' (Bornean short-tailed gymnure) **''Hylomys maxi'' (Max's short-tailed gymnure) **''Hylomys macarong'' (Dalat gymnure) **''Hylomys peguensis'' (Northern short-tailed gymnure) **''Hylomys vorax'' (Leuser gymnure) *Genus ''Neohylomys'' **''Neohylomys hainanensis'' (Hainan gymnure or Hainan moonrat) *Genus ''Neotetracus'' **''Neotetracus sinensis'' (shrew gymnure) *Genus ''Otohylomys'' **''Otohylomys megalotis'' (Long-eared gymnure) *Genus ''Podogymnura'' **''Podogymnura aureospinula'' (Dinagat gymnure or Dinagat moonrat) **''Podogymnura intermedia'' (Eastern Mindanao gymnure ) **''Podogymnura minima'' **''Podogymnura truei'' (Mindanao gymnure or Mindanao moonrat)

==References== {{Reflist|refs= <ref name="Feldhamer15">{{Cite book|title=Mammalogy: Adaptation, Diversity, Ecology, Edition 4|last=Feldhamer|first=George [and 4 others]|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|year=2015|isbn=978-1-4214-1588-8|location=Baltimore|page=285}}</ref> <ref name="Gould95">{{cite journal | author = Gould, G.C. | year = 1995 | title = Hedgehog phylogeny (Mammalia, Erinaceidae) – the reciprocal illumination of the quick and the dead | journal = American Museum Novitates | issue = 3131 | pages = 1–45 | hdl = 2246/3665}}</ref> <ref name="HoekOstende03">{{cite journal |last1=van den Hoek Ostende |first1=L. W. |title=''Riddleria atecensis'' nov. gen. nov. sp., a peculiar erinaceid (Erinaceomorpha, Mammalia) from the Lower Miocene of Spain |journal=Beiträge zur Paläontologie |date=2003 |volume=28 |pages=1–11 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/280319322}}</ref> <ref name="Jiménez-Hidalgo22">{{cite journal |last1=Jiménez-Hidalgo |first1=E. |last2=Guerrero-Arenas |first2=R. |last3=Crespo |first3=V. D. |title=First galericine erinaceid (Mammalia: Eulipotyphla) from the early Oligocene of tropical North America |journal=Historical Biology |date=2022 |volume=35 |issue=6 |pages=935–940 |doi=10.1080/08912963.2022.2070018|s2cid=248467861 }}</ref> <ref name="Lopatin06">{{cite journal |last1=Lopatin |first1=A. V. |title=Early Paleogene insectivore mammals of Asia and establishment of the major groups of Insectivora |journal=Paleontological Journal |date=2006 |volume=40 |issue=S3 |pages=S205–S405 |doi=10.1134/S0031030106090012 |bibcode=2006PalJ...40S.205L |s2cid=84144565 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/226404792}}</ref> <ref name="Masini13">{{cite journal |last1=Masini |first1=F. |last2=Fanfani |first2=F. |title=''Apulogalerix pusillus'' nov. gen., nov. sp., the small-sized Galericinae (Erinaceidae, Mammalia) from the "Terre Rosse" fissure filling of the Gargano (Foggia, South-Eastern Italy) |journal=Geobios |date=2013 |volume=46 |issue=1–2 |pages=89–104 |doi=10.1016/j.geobios.2012.10.008 |bibcode=2013Geobi..46...89M }}</ref> <ref name="MSW3">{{MSW3 Hutterer |id=13600053 |pages =212–217}}</ref> }}

Category:Gymnures