Sorex (Otisorex) palustris Richardson 1828

Sorex (Otisorex) palustris Richardson 1828, Zool. J., 3: 517.

Type Locality: Canada, "marshy places, from Hudson's Bay to the Rocky Mountains."; not specified.

Vernacular Names: American Water Shrew.

Subspecies::

Subspecies Sorex (Otisorex) palustris subsp. palustris Richardson 1828

Subspecies Sorex (Otisorex) palustris subsp. albibarbis Cope 1862

Subspecies Sorex (Otisorex) palustris subsp. brooksi Anderson 1934

Subspecies Sorex (Otisorex) palustris subsp. gloveralleni Jackson 1926

Subspecies Sorex (Otisorex) palustris subsp. hydrobadistes Jackson 1926

Subspecies Sorex (Otisorex) palustris subsp. labradorensis Burt 1938

Subspecies Sorex (Otisorex) palustris subsp. navigator Baird 1858

Subspecies Sorex (Otisorex) palustris subsp. punctulatus Hooper 1942

Subspecies Sorex (Otisorex) palustris subsp. turneri Johnson 1951

Distribution: Montane and boreal areas of North America below the tree line from Alaska to the Sierra Nevada, Rocky and Appalachian Mtns.

Conservation: IUCN – Lower Risk (lc).

Discussion: Formerly placed in genus Neosorex Baird; now in Sorex, subgenus Otisorex, S. vagrans complex (Demboski and Cook, 2001; Fumagalli et al., 1999). Reviewed by Beneski and Stinson (1987, Mammalian Species No. 296), who recognized 9 subspecies. They did not include alaskanus as suggested by Junge and Hoffmann (1981:28) and Hall (1981:43); George (1988) and Carraway (1995) also treated alaskanus as distinct.