Nesiotites
| Nesiotites Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
| Size comparison of the Balearic shrew Nesiotites hidalgo (top) with a water shrew (Neomys, below) | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Eulipotyphla |
| Family: | Soricidae |
| Tribe: | Nectogalini |
| Genus: | †Nesiotites Bate, 1945 |
| Species | |
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Nesiotites is an extinct genus of large red-toothed shrews belonging to the tribe Nectogalini that inhabited the Balearic Islands from the latest Miocene/Early Pliocene (from around 5.3 million years ago) up until the arrival of humans on the islands during the late Holocene (around 2500-2300 BC). It was present on Mallorca and Menorca. It represented one of only 3 native land mammals to the islands at the time of human arrival, alongside the goat-antelope Myotragus and the giant dormouse Hypnomys. The genus is closely related to the also recently extinct Corsican-Sardinian shrews belonging to the genus Asoriculus, with their closest living relatives being the Himalayan shrews of the genus Soriculus.