These species are apparently relicts of a time when the islands were connected to the mainland .
These species were once conspecific with a more widespread species , now the cinereus shrew , the three populations having diverged through speciation .
These species are apparently relicts of a time when the islands were connected to the mainland , and these species were once conspecific with a more widespread species , now the cinereus shrew , the three populations having diverged through speciation .