Insectivora (Lat., 'insect-eating'), an order of mammals, the members of which—shrews, moles, hedgehogs, and the like—are mostly terrestrial, usually nocturnal in habit, and small in size. They feed mainly on insects and small animals, and in adaptation to this diet, which often plays a useful part in the economy of nature, the summits of the molar teeth are beset with small conical tubercles. A few, such as the moles, burrow; a few—e.g. Potamogale—are aquatic; while the divergent Galeopithecus, if included in this order, has among its peculiarities that of gliding through the air (see FLYING ANIMALS). The majority, however, have the general habit of shrews. Though often externally resembling various rodents, the Insectivores are entirely distinct in their anatomy. Altogether over two hundred living species are known, and many fossils, especially from Tertiary strata. The Insectivora are themselves lowly mammals, but lead on to Bats.
See HEDGEHOG, MAMMALIA, MOLE, SHREW; Dobson, Monograph of the Insectivora (Lond. 1882); Th. Gill, Synopsis of Insectivorous Mammals; Bull. Geol. and Geog. Survey, U.S.A. (Washington, 1875).