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American pygmy shrew
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== Distribution and habitat == Pygmy shrews are distributed throughout the [[subalpine]] and [[boreal forest|boreal]] areas of North America, ranging from [[Canada]] and [[Alaska]]<ref name="PygmyShrewinYukon" /> to the [[Great Lakes]] and south along the [[Appalachians]].<ref name="PygmyShrewAnimalDiversity"/><ref name="SunyESFPygmyShrewPage"/> There is also an isolated population in the [[Colorado]] and [[Wyoming]] [[Rocky Mountains|Rockies]].<ref name="USFSPygmyShrewReport"/> The species is commonly found in [[Virginia]], [[Kentucky]], [[North Carolina]], [[South Carolina]], [[Georgia (US State)|Georgia]], [[Tennessee]], and [[Alabama]] and is the second-most widespread of the long-tailed [[Soricidae|soricids]] in the southeast, after the [[southeastern shrew]].<ref name="PygmyShrew5PageUSFSReport"/> Some pygmy shrew populations comprise their own [[subspecies]]. Notably, the geographically isolated pygmy shrews found in the mountain forests of northern [[Colorado]] and south-central [[Wyoming]] are a unique [[relictual]] group from the [[Holocene glacial retreat|Pleistocene/Holocene transition]], classified as the subspecies ''S. hoyi montanus''.{{sfn|Beauvais|McCumber|2006|pp=3, 23}} Another subspecies of pygmy shrews is ''S. hoyi hoyi'', which resides in the [[prairies]] of eastern [[South Dakota]].<ref name="USFSPygmyShrewReport"/> Although ''S. hoyi'' prefers moist habitats, it has been recorded to live in areas with both wet and dry soil. However, if it is living in a more [[Aridity|arid]] environment, it needs to have a source of water nearby.<ref name="SmithIndexforMammalianSpecies" /> Subspecies ''S. h. montanus'' occurs in moist coniferous forest, "possibly preferring late-seral stands and the edges between wet and dry forest types."<ref name="USFSPygmyShrewReport"/> ''S. h. hoyi'' has a broader range of habitat but is still mostly found in wet prairies and wetland margins.<ref name="USFSPygmyShrewReport"/>
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