Aquitaine mole

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Aquitaine mole
Systematics
Order : Insect eater (Eulipotyphla)
Family : Moles (Talpidae)
Subfamily : Old World Moles (Talpinae)
Tribe : Actual moles (Talpini)
Genre : Eurasian moles ( Talpa )
Type : Aquitaine mole
Scientific name
Talpa aquitania
Nicolas , Martínez-Vargas & Hugot , 2017

The Aquitaine mole ( Talpa aquitania ) is a species of mammal from the family of moles (Talpidae) within the order of the insect eater (Eulipotyphla). It is common in the north of the Iberian Peninsula from northern Spain to southern and central France . Outwardly, the animals are similar to the European mole , but are on average larger and differ in individual anatomical features. Originally they were kept within the European mole and formed the south-western population of the species. Molecular genetic studies, however, showed that the European mole did not form a self-contained group. For this reason, the animals of northern Spain and southern France were described as a separate species in 2017. In their way of life, they largely correspond to the European mole.

features

Habitus

The Aquitaine mole is a representative of the Eurasian moles. On average, it becomes slightly larger than the European mole ( Talpa europaea ) and significantly larger than the Iberian mole ( Talpa occidentalis ). Its head-body length is 11.7 to 19.2 cm, the tail length ranges from 1.8 to 3.9 cm. The body weight varies between 47 and 147 g. The rear foot is between 1.7 and 4.8 cm long. Outwardly, the animals resemble the European mole. A striking difference concerns the eyelid, which in the Aquitaine mole is firmly fused, similar to the Iberian mole, and thus completely covers the eye. The European mole, on the other hand, has open eyes.

Skull and dentition features

The skull of the Aquitaine mole is between 34.0 and 36.3 mm long. At the cranium the width is between 16.6 and 17.3 mm, in the area of ​​the zygomatic arches between 12.2 and 12.9 mm. The teeth consists, as in all species of the genus Talpa from 44 teeth with the following tooth formula : . Special features can be found in tooth construction. The molars are in accordance with the other moles by pointed protuberances. On the upper first molar, between the two main cusps on the lip side (Paraconus and Metaconus), there is a characteristic small hump, the mesostyle, which has one point in the Aquitaine mole and the European mole, but two in the Iberian mole. On the two subsequent molars, the mesostyle of the European and Iberian mole each has two tips of identical size. The Aquitaine mole has either one or two points, in the latter case the second point is significantly smaller.

Genetic traits

The diploid chromosome set is 2n = 34. All chromosomes, including the sex chromosomes, have two arms and are more metacentric or submetacentric. The karyotype is largely similar to that of the European and Iberian mole. In contrast to these, the Y chromosome in the Aquitaine mole is medium-sized and not as small as spots.

distribution and habitat

The distribution area of ​​the Aquitaine mole includes the northern part of the Iberian Peninsula and extends on both sides of the Pyrenees from northern Spain to southern and central France . To the north it borders on the right bank of the Loire . The height distribution of the Aquitaine mole ranges from sea level to mountain areas of around 2000 m. The animals prefer pasture areas, gardens and mountain meadows with deep and light soils and a large number of prey. They do not occur in landscapes with poorly drained or dry rocky to sandy soils, nor do they avoid areas with poor food sources.

Way of life

The Aquitaine mole is territorial and lives underground. He digs passages and galleries 5 to 30 cm deep. The main activity times in Catalonia are limited to the morning and late afternoon hours. According to studies of stomach contents from the Pyrenees region in northern Spain, the diet consists of 20.7% earthworms , 21.6% larvae of two-winged birds and 27.6% of beetle larvae . In addition, the animals prey on centipedes , adult beetles, hymenoptera and snails , as well as leeches and spiders . The composition of the food does not vary with the seasons. The food preferences clearly overlap with that of the black- backed shrew, which also occurs there . However, the latter searches for its prey largely on the surface of the earth, while the Aquitaine mole digs through the underground. The reproductive phase extends from December to June with a peak between January and March. Pregnant females were mainly found from January to June, lactating females from February to June. Some females have up to three litters during this period. Usually two to four embryos carry out. The young animals reach sexual maturity in the year after birth.

Systematics

Internal systematics of the Eurasian moles according to Demırtaş et al. 2020
 Talpa  


 Talpa altaica


   

 Talpa ognevi


   

 Talpa caucasica




   


 Talpa talyschensis


   

 Talpa davidiana



   

 Talpa caeca


   

 Talpa stankovici


   

 Talpa transcaucasica


   

 Talpa levantis



   

 Talpa romana


   

 Talpa martinorum


   


 Talpa occidentalis


   

 Talpa aquitania



   

 Talpa europaea





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The Aquitaine-mole is a type from the genus of the Eurasian moles ( Talpa ), other are counted to about a dozen. The Eurasian moles in turn belong to the tribe of the actual moles (Talpini) within the family of moles (Talpidae). The actual moles summarize the mostly burrowing representatives of the moles, while other members of the family only partially live underground, move above ground or have a semi-aquatic way of life.

The best- known member of the genus Talpa is the European mole ( Talpa europaea ), whose distribution, according to the original opinion, extends from the north of the Iberian Peninsula over large parts of Europe to western Siberia . Several molecular genetic analyzes from 2014 and 2015 showed, however, that the European mole is paraphyletic and includes at least three independent lines, which in turn each form a unit. One line consists of the actual European mole of western and central as well as eastern and southeastern Europe. Another line related to it is the population of the northern Apennine peninsula with a focus on the Po Valley. The third line includes the moles from northern Spain and southern France. According to the genetic analyzes, these are more closely related to the Iberian mole ( Talpa occidentalis ). As a result of the genetic findings, the northern Spanish-southern French line was first scientifically described as an independent species under the name Talpa aquitania in 2015 ; the authorship of the study was taken over by a working group around Violaine Nicolas . Due to some internal issues, a further description of the species appeared in 2017 by the same research team. The species name refers to Gallia Aquitania , a province of the Roman Empire . The holotype consists of a fully grown female animal from Saint-Benoît in the French department of Vienne . In 2020, the mitochondrial genome of the Aquitaine mole consisting of 16,776 to 16,846 base pairs was published. This showed a strong correspondence with the Iberian mole. The close relationship of both species could be confirmed in this study.

Further genetic studies suggest that the genus Talpa may contain other cryptic species . The Aquitaine mole has a genetic difference of 8.4% to the European mole, the difference to the Iberian mole is 7.5%. The Iberian mole and the Aquitaine mole separated in the late Pliocene about 2.47 million years ago. The European mole, together with the North-Apennine line, split off from their common ancestors around 2.82 million years ago, and both diversified in the Middle Pleistocene around 670,000 years ago.

literature

  • Boris Kryštufek and Masaharu Motokawa: Talpidae (Moles, Desmans, Star-nosed Moles and Shrew Moles). In: Don E. Wilson and Russell A. Mittermeier (eds.): Handbook of the Mammals of the World. Volume 8: Insectivores, Sloths, Colugos. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona 2018, pp. 552–620 (p. 614) ISBN 978-84-16728-08-4
  • Violaine Nicolas, Jessica Martínez-Vargas and Jean-Pierre Hugot: Preliminary note: Talpa aquitania nov. sp. (Talpidae, Soricomorpha) a new mole species from southwest France and north Spain. Bulletin de l'Académie Vétérinaire de France 168, 2015, pp. 329–334. doi : 10.4267 / 2042/58283
  • Violaine Nicolas, Jessica Martínez-Vargas and Jean-Pierre Hugot: Talpa aquitania sp. nov. (Talpidae, Soricomorpha), a new mole species from SW France and N Spain. Mammalia 81 (6), 2017, pp. 641-642. doi : 10.1515 / mammalia-2017-0057

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Violaine Nicolas, Jessica Martínez-Vargas and Jean-Pierre Hugot: Preliminary note: Talpa aquitania nov. sp. (Talpidae, Soricomorpha) a new mole species from southwest France and north Spain. Bulletin de l'Académie Vétérinaire de France 168, 2015, pp. 329–334
  2. ↑ a b c d e Violaine Nicolas, Jessica Martínez-Vargas and Jean-Pierre Hugot: Talpa aquitania sp. nov. (Talpidae, Soricomorpha), a new mole species from SW France and N Spain. Mammalia 81 (6), 2017, pp. 641-642
  3. ↑ a b c Boris Kryštufek and Masaharu Motokawa: Talpidae (Moles, Desmans, Star-nosed Moles and Shrew Moles). In: Don E. Wilson and Russell A. Mittermeier (eds.): Handbook of the Mammals of the World. Volume 8: Insectivores, Sloths, Colugos. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona 2018, pp. 552–620 (p. 614) ISBN 978-84-16728-08-4
  4. ↑ Juana Gutiérrez, Gael Aleix-Mata, Luz Lamelas, María Arroyo, Juan A. Marchal and Antonio Sánchez: Karyotype Analysis of the New Talpa Species Talpa aquitania (Talpidae; Insectivora) from Northern Spain. Cytogenetic and Genome Research 159 (1), 2019, pp. 26-31, doi: 10.1159 / 000502599
  5. ↑ Enrique Castién and Joaquim Gosálbez: Caractérisation de la niche trophique de Talpa europaea Linnaeus, 1758 dans les Pyrénées occidentales (north de la Péninsule Ibérique). Mammalia 59 (1), 1995, pp. 43-50
  6. ↑ Enrique Castién and Joaquim Gosálbez: Habitat and food preferences in a guild of insectivorous mammals in the Western Pyrenees. Acta Theriologica 44 (1), 1999, pp. 1-13
  7. ↑ M. José López-Fuster, Joaquim Gosálbez and Sara Lluch: Characteristics of the reproductive cycle of the mole, Talpa europaea, in the Northeast of the Iberian Peninsula. Acta Teriologica 33 (11), 1988, pp. 131-137
  8. ↑ Sadık Demırtaş, Metin Silsüpür, Jeremy B. Searle, David Bilton and İslam Gündüz: What should we call the Levant mole? Unraveling the systematics and demography of Talpa levantis Thomas, 1906 sensu lato (Mammalia: Talpidae). Mammalian Biology 100, 2020, pp. 1-18, doi: 10.1007 / s42991-020-00010-4
  9. ↑ a b Kai He, Akio Shinohara, Kristofer M. Helgen, Mark S. Springer, Xue-Long Jiang and Kevin L. Campbell: Talpid Mole Phylogeny Unites Shrew Moles and Illuminates Overlooked Cryptic Species Diversity. Molecular Biology and Evolution 34 (1), 2016, pp. 78-87
  10. ↑ Jean-Pierre Hugot, Se Hun Gu, Carlos Feliu, Jacint Ventura, Alexis Ribas, Jérôme Dormion, Richard Yanagihara and Violaine Nicolas: Genetic variability of Talpa europaea and Nova hantavirus (NVAV) in France. Bulletin de l'Académie Vétérinaire de France 167 (3), 2014, pp. 177-184
  11. ↑ Roberto Feuda, Anna A. Bannikova, Elena D. Zemlemerova, Mirko D. Febbraro, Anna Loy, Rainer Hutterer, Gaetano Aloise, Alexander E. Zykov, Flavia Annesi and Paolo Colangelo: Tracing the evolutionary history of the mole, Talpa europaea, through mitochondrial DNA phylogeography and species distribution modeling. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 114, 2015, pp. 495-512
  12. ↑ Anna A. Bannikova, Elena D. Zemlemerova, Paolo Colangelo, Mustafa Sözen, M. Sevindik, Artem A. Kidov, Ruslan I. Dzuev, Boris Kryštufek and Vladimir S. Lebedev: An underground burst of diversity - a new look at the phylogeny and taxonomy of the genus Talpa Linnaeus, 1758 (Mammalia: Talpidae) as revealed by nuclear and mitochondrial genes. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 175, 2015, pp. 930-948
  13. ↑ Gaël Aleix ‑ Mata, Juana Gutiérrez, Francisco J. Ruiz ‑ Ruano, Pedro Lorite, Juan A. Marchal and Antonio Sánchez: The complete mitochondrial genome of Talpa aquitania (Talpidae; Insectivora), a mole species endemic to northern Spain and southern France . Molecular Biology Reports, 2020, doi: 10.1007 / s11033-020-05296-8
  14. ↑ Violaine Nicolas, Jessica Martínez-Vargas and Jean-Pierre Hugot: Molecular data and ecological niche modeling reveal the evolutionary history of the common and Iberian moles (Talpidae) in Europe. Zoologica Scripta 46, 2017, pp. 12-26