| The St. Lawrence Island Shrew is named for the only geographic
location in which it has been found, St. Lawrence Island in the
Bering Sea, between Alaska and Siberia. It is the only shrew on
the island, and it is common there. It has a brown back and
paler sides, and is closely related to the Cinereus Shrew and
the Pribilof Island Shrew. Details of the biology of the St.
Lawrence Island shrew are not known. It and the Pribilof Island
Shrew probably evolved from a common ancestor after the last Ice
Age. During the Ice Age all the islands in the Bering Sea were
probably connected. As the ice melted and the sea level rose,
some became separate islands, and over millions of years, the
shrews living on them evolved into separate species. Also known
as: St. Lawrence Shrew Hall, E. R., and R. M. Gilmore, 1932. New
mammals from St. Lawrence Island, Bering Sea, Alaska, p.392.
University of California Publications in Zoology, 38:391-404.
Mammal Species of the World