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The blackish small-eared shrew, Cryptotis nigrescens(Allen, 1895), is a blarinine soricid that occurs in high-elevation premontane wet forest and cloud forest in the Central American countries of Costa Rica and Panama. The species is taxonomically monotypic, although it exhibits size variation that manifests as a gradual increase in size from northwest to southeast. Habitat loss is currently the greatest threat to the species’ existence, although populations in the few areas where C. nigrescenshas been studied appear to be healthy, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) classifies it as a species whose conservation status is “Least Concern” (LC). We include a complete synonymy for the genus CryptotisPomel, 1848.