ABSTRACT
The Insectivora are the most primitive order of living placental mammals and stand close to the ancestry of all other placental orders. In the Pleistocene, insectivore fossils are common in some types of fissures, especially those used as roosting places by owls. Hedgehog fossils are not particularly common in Pleistocene deposits. Remains of hedgehog are occasionally found in Late Pleistocene cave deposits. The European hedgehog now inhabits all of Europe except northern Fennoscandia; it ranges eastward through Asia to China. The earliest fossils that have been ascribed to the Pygmy Shrew date from the Astian; if the identifications are correct it is one of the oldest species of mammals living today. The mole family has been recorded as early as the Eocene. Its European representatives belong to two distinct subfamilies, the Talpinae or true Old World moles, and the Desmaninae or desmans; the former have a very good fossil record.
