It is a known musarache from such a small area in the mountains of Chiapas that it is among the species of Mexican mammal with the smallest geographical distribution of all, with very few copies confirmed since its description in the late 19th century. It lives in the mountain wet forest of a very concrete massive, a habitat that has suffered a considerable transformation by deforestation in the last decades. Its name pays tribute to a famous British zoologist of the 19th century who contributed decisively to the classification of world fauna, including a good part of Mexican mastozoology.
Small-size musaraches, dark brown fur, long, mobile focico, and tiny eyes barely visible between the fur. It is confused with other musaraches from the Chiapas mountains, whose reliable separation requires cranial or genetic analysis; its extreme rarity makes confirmed field identification exceptional.
Miniature footprint, only 1 cm, rarely visible except on very fine substrates. Miniature, dark, millimetre-long excrusts, with remains of insect cutlery, left scattered by paths under the wet leaves of the mountain forest where he lives. Builds surface galleries under the leaves and spherical nests in holes under fallen trunks, although recent field records of these traces are exceptional given the rarity of the species.
Mountainous wet forest, with dense foliage soil, generally above 2000 m of altitude.
Insectívora, it feeds on insects and other invertebrates from the mountain forest soil, caught thanks to a very accelerated metabolism.
Continuous activity distributed in short periods throughout the day and night due to its very accelerated metabolism, with a solitary and territorial behavior little documented given the rarity of the species.
Its known area of distribution is extremely small, and the continued deforestation of the mountain forest where it lives places its populations, already scarcely documented, in a situation of severe decline.
Deforestation and transformation of mountain wetlands by agricultural and livestock expansion in the Chiapas Mountains.
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