Alaska specimens originally ascribed to the Eurasian species Sorex minutissimus Zimmermann, 1780 by Dokuchaev (1994), but then described as a separate sister species (Dokuchaev, 1997).

This shrew now appears to be widespread but uncommon in Alaska. Trapping with steep-sided pitfall traps bests detects them.

Species diagnosis

• Third upper unicuspid decidedly larger than the fourth
• Fifth upper unicuspid conspicuous and pigmented
• Strongly tricolored
• Small body size (less than 3g)

Literature cited

• Dokuchaev, N. E., 1994. Siberian shrew, Sorex minutissimus, found in Alaska. Zoologicheskii Zhurnal, 73:254-256.
• Dokuchaev, N. E., 1997. A new species of shrew (Soricidae, Insectivora) from Alaska. Journal of Mammalogy, 78(3):811-817.