page_title: List of mammals of New England
section_title: Insectivores, order Eulipotyphla
hierarchical_section_title: List of mammals of New England / Insectivores, order Eulipotyphla
caption_attribution_description: English: Masked Shrew from US NPS Source: U.S. National Park Service, Acadia National Park, Notes: "Information presented on this website, unless otherwise indicated, is considered in the public domain."
context_page_description: There are 7 orders, 17 families, 40 genera, and 60 species represented among the mammals of New England. If extirpated, coastal, introduced, and accidental species are included these numbers increase to 8 orders, 26 families, 67 genera, and 105 species. The region includes the U.S. states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island.
  The makeup and distribution of the mammals in New England are largely the result of the Last Glacial Maximum when the Laurentide Ice Sheet covered virtually the entire region. Recolonization of the area appears to have occurred from one or a few southern glacial refugia. This is in contrast to the multiple glacial refugia present throughout the American West. As a consequence of both the recent uninhabitability and the few sources of recolonization, species diversity for some taxa in parts of New England are lower than in similar areas in other parts of North America. Chipmunks and ground squirrels are exemplars of this situation. New England has one species of each, but numerous locations west of the Rocky Mountains host several species.
  Habitat varies throughout the region.
caption: Masked shrew
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