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Blarina carolinensis

(Bachman, 1837)

Southern Short-tailed Shrew

G5Secure Found in 1 roadless area NatureServe Explorer →
G5SecureGlobal Rank
Least concernIUCN
Identity
Unique IDELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.902827
Element CodeAMABA03020
Record TypeSPECIES
ClassificationSpecies
Classification StatusStandard
Name CategoryVertebrate Animal
IUCNLeast concern
Endemicendemic to a single nation
KingdomAnimalia
PhylumCraniata
ClassMammalia
OrderEulipotyphla
FamilySoricidae
GenusBlarina
Other Common Names
southern short-tailed shrew (EN)
Concept Reference
Benedict, R. A., H. H. Genoways, and J. R. Choate. 2006. Taxonomy of short-tailed shrews (genus Blarina) in Florida. Occasional Papers, Museum of Texas Tech University (251):1-19.
Taxonomic Comments
Blarina carolinensis formerly was regarded as conspecific with B. brevicauda; it was regarded as a distinct species by Jones et al. (1992) and Hutterer (in Wilson and Reeder 1993, 2005). Previously included shermani, recognized as a distinct species by Benedict et al. (2006).

Hutterer (in Wilson and Reeder 2005) recognized Blarina peninsulae as a species distinct from B. carolinensis, based on distinct karyotype and distinct morphology (George et al. 1982, Genoways and Choate 1998) and presence of a contact zone between the two taxa (see Genoways and Benedict, in Wilson and Ruff 1999). However, a morphological study by Benedict et al. (2006) found that carolinensis and peninsulae are not well differentiated and show evidence of intergradation. Benedict et al. (2006) recommended that peninsulae be retained as a subspecies of Blarina carolinensis. The American Society of Mammalogists (ASM 2025) recognizes peninsulae as distinct following Woodman (2018), although in both accounts they say how it may be a subspecies of carolinensis.
Conservation Status
Review Date2007-06-26
Change Date1996-11-04
Edition Date2007-06-26
Edition AuthorsHammerson, G.
Range Extent Comments
Current known distribution is from Virginia to southern Illinois, southward to eastern Texas (Baumgardner et al. 1992) and southern Florida (McCay 2001).
Ecology & Habitat

Diagnostic Characteristics

A small BLARINA; usually distinguished by an occipito-premaxillary length < 20 millimeters and cranial breadth < 111.5 millimeters (McCay 2001). See Carraway (1995) for a key to western North American C soricids based primarily on dentaries.

Habitat

Various upland and wetland habitats, including moist deciduous woods, brushy areas, pine woodland and forest, mixed oak-pine-juniper woods, grassy situations, densely wooded floodplains. May favor areas with abundant leaf litter and fallen logs (Baumgardner et al. 1992). Nest sites are probably under logs, stumps and other debris.

Ecology

Average home range size 0.96 hectares (n=7); maximum movement of 603 meters (Faust et al. 1971). Multiple individuals may use a common burrow system. Usually more abundant than other shrews in its range (McCay 2001). A population in South Carolina fluctuated dramatically between years; higher populations were correleated with moist summers and presumably higher invertebrate prey, and lower populations correlated with extended drought (Gentry et al. 1971, Smith et al. 1974).

Reproduction

Breeding season: spring-late summer (as early as February in Texas). Gestation lasts probably 21-30 days. Litter size: 5-7, with 2-3 or more litters per year. Few live as long as 2 years.
Terrestrial Habitats
Forest - HardwoodForest - ConiferForest - MixedWoodland - HardwoodWoodland - ConiferWoodland - MixedShrubland/chaparralSavannaGrassland/herbaceousOld fieldCropland/hedgerow
Palustrine Habitats
Riparian
Other Nations (1)
United StatesN5
ProvinceRankNative
IowaSNRYes
ArkansasS5Yes
South CarolinaS5Yes
LouisianaS4Yes
MissouriS4Yes
MississippiS5Yes
IllinoisS5Yes
KentuckyS5Yes
FloridaSNRYes
TexasS4Yes
GeorgiaS5Yes
VirginiaS5Yes
OklahomaS2Yes
North CarolinaS5Yes
AlabamaS5Yes
Roadless Areas (1)
Texas (1)
AreaForestAcres
Little Lake CreekNational Forests in Texas596
References (20)
  1. American Society of Mammalogists (ASM). 2025. Mammal Diversity Database (Version 1.13) [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10595931. Online. Available: https://www.mammaldiversity.org/
  2. Baumgardner, G. D., N. O. Dronen, and D. J. Schmidly. 1992. Distributional status of short-tailed shrews (genus <i>Blarina</i>) in Texas. Southwest. Nat. 37:326-328.
  3. Benedict, R. A., H. H. Genoways, and J. R. Choate. 2006. Taxonomy of short-tailed shrews (genus <i>Blarina</i>) in Florida. Occasional Papers, Museum of Texas Tech University (251):1-19.
  4. Bradley, R.D., L.K. Ammerman, R.J. Baker, L.C. Bradley, J.A. Cook. R.C. Dowler, C. Jones, D.J. Schmidly, F.B. Stangl Jr., R.A. Van den Bussche and B. Würsig. 2014. Revised checklist of North American mammals north of Mexico, 2014. Museum of Texas Tech University Occasional Papers 327:1-28. Available at: http://www.nsrl.ttu.edu/publications/opapers/ops/OP327.pdf
  5. Carraway, L. N. 1995. A key to Recent Soricidae of the western United States and Canada based primarily on dentaries. Occasional Papers of the Natural History Museum, University of Kansas (175):1-49.
  6. Faust, B. F., M. H. Smith, and W. B. Wray. 1971. Distances moved by small mammals as an apparent function of grid size. Acta Theriologica 16:161-177.
  7. French, T. W. 1981. Notes on the distribution and taxonomy of short-tailed shrews (genus <i>Blarina</i>) in the southeast. Brimleyana (6):101-110.
  8. Genoways, H. H., and J. R. Choate. 1998. Natural history of the southern short-tailed shrew, <i>Blarina carolinensis</i>. Occasional Papers, Museum of Southwestern Biology 8:1-43.
  9. Gentry, J. B., F. B. Golley, and M. H. Smith. 1971. Yearly fluctuations in small mammal populations in a southeastern United States hardwood forest. Acta Theriologica 15:179-190.
  10. George, S. B., H. H. Genoways, J. R. Choate, and R. J. Baker. 1982. Karyotypic relationships within the short-tailed shrews, genus <i>Blarina</i>. Journal of Mammalogy 63:639-645.
  11. George, S. B., J. R. Choate, and H. H. Genoways. 1986. <i>Blarina bravicauda</i>. Mammalian Species 261:1-9.
  12. Hall, E. R. 1981a. The Mammals of North America, second edition. Vols. I &amp; II. John Wiley &amp; Sons, New York, New York. 1181 pp.
  13. Hamilton, W. J., Jr., and J. O. Whitaker, Jr. 1979. Mammals of the eastern United States. Cornell Univ. Press, Ithaca, New York. 346 pp.
  14. Jones, J. K., Jr., R. S. Hoffman, D. W. Rice, C. Jones, R. J. Baker, and M. D. Engstrom. 1992a. Revised checklist of North American mammals north of Mexico, 1991. Occasional Papers, The Museum, Texas Tech University, 146:1-23.
  15. McCay, T. S. 2001. <i>Blarina carolinensis</i>. Mammalian Species 673:1-7.
  16. Smith, M. H., J. B. Gentry, and J. Pinder. 1974. Annual fluctuations using a grid and assessment lines. Acta Theriologica 16:105-125.
  17. Wilson, D. E., and D. M. Reeder (editors). 1993. Mammal species of the world: a taxonomic and geographic reference. Second edition. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC. xviii + 1206 pp. Available online at: http://www.nmnh.si.edu/msw/.
  18. Wilson, D. E., and D. M. Reeder (editors). 2005. Mammal species of the world: a taxonomic and geographic reference. Third edition. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore. Two volumes. 2,142 pp. [As modified by ASM the Mammal Diversity Database (MDD) at https://www.mammaldiversity.org/index.html]
  19. Wilson, D. E., and S. Ruff. 1999. The Smithsonian book of North American mammals. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C. 750 pp.
  20. Woodman, N. 2018. American Recent Eulipotyphla: Nesophontids, Solenodons, Moles, and Shrews in the New World. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology, No. 650. 107 pp.