Sorex araneus (European shrew) genome, mSorAra2

The European shrew (Sorex araneus) is the most common shrew and one of the most common mammals, throughout Northern Europe. It is one of the rare venomous mammals and has a life span of approximately 14 months (from Wikipedia entry). This sample is from a juvenile female at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Radolfzell, Germany, collected by Marion Muturi, and procured by Liliana M. Davalos and William Thomas at Stony Brook University, New York, to generate a high-quality reference genome for the Vertebrate Genomes Project (VGP). Sequencing and genome assembly were conducted at the Vertebrate Genomes Lab (VGL) at the Rockefeller University, led by Olivier Fedrigo and Erich D. Jarvis. (Note: this sample was likely mis-sexed. The records for this sample and assembly were updated February 2026 to reflect that the individual was actually female.)