Somali elephant shrew

The Somali elephant shrew or Somali sengi (Galegeeska revoilii) is a species of elephant shrew in the family Macroscelididae.

Somali elephant shrew[1]
Conservation status
Data Deficient  (IUCN 3.1)[2]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Macroscelidea
Family:	Macroscelididae
Genus:	Galegeeska
Species:	G. revoilii
Binomial name
Galegeeska revoilii (Hüet, 1881)
Synonyms
Elephantulus revoilii Elephantulus revoili Macroscelides revoilii Huet, 1881

Habitat

Its natural habitat is arid and semiarid desert with rocky substrates and sparse shrubs. In some parts of Somalia, the Somali sengi and rufous sengi (G. rufescens) may be locally sympatric. It is found in the northern Horn of Africa; it was formerly thought to be exclusively endemic to Somalia, but a 2020 sighting also indicates they are found in Djibouti and potentially Ethiopia.

Classification

It was formerly classified in the genus Elephantulus, but a 2020 study found it to be the sister taxon of the clade containing the genera Petrodromus and Petrosaltator; and the genus Galegeeska was coined for it.^[3]

Disappearance and rediscovery

The Somali sengi was among the 25 "most wanted lost" species that were the focus of Global Wildlife Conservation's “Search for Lost Species” initiative.^[4] On 18 August 2020, 50 years after it was last seen and recorded, it was announced that a population had been found in Djibouti, the first documented since 1968.^[5][6][7] However, an analysis of ancestral biogeography shows that the Somali Sengi have inhabited the Horn of Africa for more than 5.4 million years. ^[3]