Macroscelidea
E197978
Macroscelidea is an order of small, insectivorous African mammals commonly known as elephant shrews or sengis, characterized by their elongated snouts and swift, hopping locomotion.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Macroscelidea canonical | 2 |
| Macroscelididae | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T1742321 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Macroscelidea Context triple: [Eutheria, includes, Macroscelidea]
-
A.
Eulipotyphla
Eulipotyphla is an order of small insectivorous mammals that includes shrews, moles, hedgehogs, and related species.
-
B.
Peramelemorphia
Peramelemorphia is an order of Australasian marsupials that includes bandicoots and bilbies, characterized by their pointed snouts, omnivorous diet, and burrowing habits.
-
C.
Hyracoidea
Hyracoidea is an order of small, herbivorous, rodent-like mammals known as hyraxes, native to Africa and the Middle East and closely related to elephants and manatees.
-
D.
Afrosoricida
Afrosoricida is an order of small insectivorous mammals, including tenrecs and golden moles, primarily found in Africa and Madagascar.
-
E.
Scandentia
Scandentia is an order of small, arboreal mammals known as treeshrews, native to tropical forests of Southeast Asia and once considered close relatives of primates.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Macroscelidea Target entity description: Macroscelidea is an order of small, insectivorous African mammals commonly known as elephant shrews or sengis, characterized by their elongated snouts and swift, hopping locomotion.
-
A.
Eulipotyphla
Eulipotyphla is an order of small insectivorous mammals that includes shrews, moles, hedgehogs, and related species.
-
B.
Peramelemorphia
Peramelemorphia is an order of Australasian marsupials that includes bandicoots and bilbies, characterized by their pointed snouts, omnivorous diet, and burrowing habits.
-
C.
Hyracoidea
Hyracoidea is an order of small, herbivorous, rodent-like mammals known as hyraxes, native to Africa and the Middle East and closely related to elephants and manatees.
-
D.
Afrosoricida
Afrosoricida is an order of small insectivorous mammals, including tenrecs and golden moles, primarily found in Africa and Madagascar.
-
E.
Scandentia
Scandentia is an order of small, arboreal mammals known as treeshrews, native to tropical forests of Southeast Asia and once considered close relatives of primates.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (47)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
mammal order
ⓘ
taxonomic rank ⓘ |
| activityPattern |
diurnal
ⓘ
nocturnal ⓘ |
| bodySize | small mammal ⓘ |
| characteristic |
elongated snout
ⓘ
hopping locomotion ⓘ long hind limbs ⓘ long mobile nose ⓘ relatively large eyes ⓘ swift locomotion ⓘ |
| class | Mammalia ⓘ |
| commonName |
elephant shrews
ⓘ
sengis ⓘ |
| conservationStatus | several species threatened ⓘ |
| containsFamily |
Macroscelidea
self-linksurface differs
ⓘ
surface form:
Macroscelididae
|
| containsGenus |
Elephantulus spp.
ⓘ
surface form:
Elephantulus
Macroscelides ⓘ Petrodromus ⓘ Rhynchocyon ⓘ |
| diet | insectivorous ⓘ |
| distinguishedFrom |
Eulipotyphla
ⓘ
surface form:
Soricomorpha
|
| distribution | Africa ⓘ |
| etymology | from Greek makros (long) and skelos (leg) ⓘ |
| foragingBehavior | surface insect foraging ⓘ |
| geologicalHistory | known from Paleogene fossils ⓘ |
| habitat |
forest
ⓘ
savanna ⓘ scrubland ⓘ |
| hasVernacularMisnomer | elephant shrew ⓘ |
| kingdom | Animalia ⓘ |
| locomotion |
cursorial
ⓘ
saltatory ⓘ |
| nativeRange |
Sub-Saharan Africa
ⓘ
surface form:
sub-Saharan Africa
|
| phylogeneticPlacement | more closely related to elephants than to true shrews ⓘ |
| phylum | Chordata ⓘ |
| reproduction | placental mammal ⓘ |
| reproductiveStrategy | small litters ⓘ |
| sensoryAdaptation |
good vision
ⓘ
well-developed sense of smell ⓘ |
| socialStructure | generally monogamous pairs ⓘ |
| superorder | Afrotheria ⓘ |
| taxonAuthor | Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger ⓘ |
| taxonAuthorAbbreviation | Illiger ⓘ |
| trophicLevel | insectivore ⓘ |
| typeGenus | Macroscelides ⓘ |
| yearDescribed | 1811 ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Macroscelidea Description of subject: Macroscelidea is an order of small, insectivorous African mammals commonly known as elephant shrews or sengis, characterized by their elongated snouts and swift, hopping locomotion.
Referenced by (3)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
this entity surface form:
Macroscelididae