In the past, the grouping was used as a scrapbasket for a variety of small to very small, relatively unspecialised, insectivorous mammals.

Golden moles are small, insectivorous burrowing mammals native to southern Africa.

The relationship between this archaic group and other insectivorous mammals is uncertain.

It was formed from those insectivorous mammals which are monophyletic, a single clade.

Small insectivorous mammals eat prodigious amounts for their size.

The only large insectivorous mammals are those that feed on huge colonies of insects (ants or termites).

This type of tooth is present today in insectivorous mammals, particularly those that are highly specialized to feed on colonial insects.

This fits with the popular image of small, nocturnal insectivorous mammals surviving in niches not accessible to the large, dominant contemporary dinosaurs.

The banded palm civet has a long pointed face, reminiscent of insectivorous mammals.

No one is certain why this traditional exhibition was named after the burrowing, insectivorous mammal native to South Africa.