Yellow gold mole

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Yellow gold mole
Yellow gold mole (Calcochloris obtusirostris); Illustration from Wilhelm Peters' travelogue from 1852

Yellow gold mole ( Calcochloris obtusirostris ); Illustration from Wilhelm Peters' travelogue from 1852

Systematics
Superordinate : Afrotheria
without rank: Afroinsectiphilia
Order : Tenrecus (Afrosoricida)
Family : Gold mole (Chrysochloridae)
Genre : Calcochloris
Type : Yellow gold mole
Scientific name of the  genus
Calcochloris
Mivart , 1867
Scientific name of the  species
Calcochloris obtusirostris
( Peters , 1851)

The yellow gold mole ( Calcochloris obtusirostris ) is a species of mammal from the family of the gold mole (Chrysochloridae). It lives endemically in southeastern Africa , mainly in Mozambique , and is there bound to habitats with a sandy subsoil. Preferred habitats include forests, forest savannahs and grasslands, but only around 20 locations are known where the animals have been detected. The physique is graceful, with large grave claws, a spindle-like body and externally invisible ears and tail, the yellow gold mole has excellent adaptations to a soil-digging way of life, further typical are the yellowish body color and the light facial markings. It lives solitary and feeds on invertebrates , the exact behavior is little explored. The first description dates back to 1851 and was created by Wilhelm Peters , who received several copies on his journey through southern Africa. The exact systematic position was the subject of scientific discussion for a long time. Overall, the species is not considered endangered in its population.

features

Habitus

The yellow gold mole is one of the smallest representatives within the gold mole . Its head-torso length varies from 8.2 to 11.0 cm, its weight varies from 15 to 37 g. A sexual dimorphism is pronounced and leads to an average heavy males compared to females. Like all gold mole, the animals have a spindle-shaped body with ears and tail that are not visible from the outside. The back fur consists of 8 to 9 mm long and somewhat stiff hair. It appears from yellowish orange to dull reddish brown, the color variations are caused by a different number of hairs with grayish brown tips. The color of the underside ranges from yellow-orange to a light brown shade with a washed-out reddish brown in darker individuals, with the chest highlighting a little darker than the belly. In contrast to other golden mullets, the undercoat has hair with orange bases. With increasing age of the animals, the fur turns darker and increases in gray tones. The chin and throat stand out due to a yellowish-white color with less brown-tipped hair, a similarly tinted stripe runs around the ear on the face. The snout is relatively blunt, the leathery nasal pad is around 10 mm wide and 4.5 mm long. A unique, sickle-shaped, bead-like fold appears on the upper arched edge towards the border to the fur. The nostrils are located at the lower edge of the pad and are star-shaped with four small lobes each. The limbs are sturdy, the hands have four, the feet five rays with dirty yellow claws. Above all, the claws of the front feet are transformed into grave claws, but appear comparatively slim. The claw of the middle finger (ray III) is the largest, with a length of 7 to 9 mm and a basal width of less than 3.5 mm. The claws of the first and second fingers are about the same size and around 5 mm long and 1.5 mm wide, respectively. The claw of the fourth finger is the shortest at 2 mm in length, but is overall more pronounced compared to most other gold molluscs. The rear foot length is 9 to 14 mm.

Skull and dentition features

The greatest length of the skull is 19 to 24.2 mm, the greatest width 13.8 to 16.8 mm. The skull is generally short and wide with a width exceeding 70% of its length. The rostrum also appears quite broad with a palate that is 30 to 35% of the length of the skull. The skull thus resembles that of the Cape Gold Mulle ( Chrysochloris ), but it lacks the bubble-like bulge on the temporal fossa , which in the latter accommodates the enlarged head of the hammer of the middle ear . This is normal in the yellow gold mole. In general, males and females can be easily distinguished on the basis of the skull dimensions, which are on average larger in the former. The teeth comprises 36 teeth, the dental formula is: . The canine is characterized by two small cusps, the first premolar is completely molarized and thus resembles the molars . These in turn have three cusps on the chewing surface ( tricuspid ). A rearmost, third molar is rare. There is usually no talonid on the lower back molars. The row of teeth in the upper jaw from the canine to the second molar measures between 5.9 and 6.3 mm in length.

distribution

Distribution area (red) of the yellow gold mole

The yellow gold mole is native to and endemic to southeastern Africa . Its distribution area extends in the north from the Mozambican province Inhambane to the south to the South African province KwaZulu-Natal . The Lebombo Mountains form the western border , and the species has also been detected in the low field of Zimbabwe . Their habitat includes the southern section of the Zambezi woodland zone, where it is bound to sandy soils, alluvial sand areas and dunes . The animals inhabit dry savanna , grasslands of coastal Bushveld , coastal forests and Miombo - and Mopane -Waldsavannen. So far, around 20 locations are known where the yellow gold mole has been detected. Sometimes it can also be observed in the vicinity of human settlements or cultivated landscapes such as gardens, plantations or pastureland. The species occurs locally quite frequently, but no quantitative data are available.

Way of life

Information on the lifestyle of the yellow gold mole is only available to a limited extent. The animals live solitary and underground. They dig tunnels close to the surface, but they can reach a depth of 20 cm. The tunnels begin at a nest chamber in tree roots, run up to 50 m outwards and connect different feeding places. The burrows that often collapse in the loose substrates are often repaired and cared for by the animals. Typical ejecta mounds have not yet been observed, which may also be related to the very loose bottom sediment. In the event of disturbances, the animals burrow into the ground like a spiral. Threatened individuals make high-pitched squeaks. The excavation activities can be carried out very quickly, the locomotion underground is reminiscent of that of porpoises . The conspicuous formations on the nasal pillows prevent sand from entering the nostrils when moving underground. The yellow gold mole becomes particularly active after rainfall, when the ground is damp. The foraging usually takes place at night. Invertebrates form the basis of their food , the yellow gold mole prefers earthworms and larvae of black beetle , as well as termites , grasshoppers , flies , moths and occasionally smaller scaled crawfish . The high sensitivity to vibrations caused by the prey on the ground is remarkable. If the yellow gold mole sees potential prey, it quickly digs up to it, pulls it underground or eats it on the spot. Hardly any data are available on reproduction. Mating probably takes place in the wet summer, as observations of pregnant females or males with enlarged testicles in October and January suggest. A litter consists of one or two young, the gestation period is unknown.

Systematics

Internal systematics of the gold mole according to Asher et al. 2010
 Chrysochloridae  




 Eremitalpa granti


   

 Huetia leucorhina


   

 Cryptochloris wintoni


   

 Chrysochloris asiatica


   

 Chrysochloris stuhlmanni






   

 Chrysospalax trevelyani


   

 Chrysospalax villosus




   

 Calcochloris obtusirostris



   

 Chlorotalpa duthieae


   

 Chlorotalpa sclateri



   


 Carpitalpa arendsi


   

 Neamblysomus gunningi


   

 Neamblysomus julianae




   

 Amblysomus corriae


   

 Amblysomus hottentotus


   

 Amblysomus marleyi


   

 Amblysomus robustus


   

 Amblysomus septentrionalis


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The yellow gold mole rat is a species in the genus Calcochloris that is currently considered monotypical . The genus forms part of the family of the golden mole (Chrysochloridae), which includes smaller, soil-digging mammals from the parentage of Afrotheria . The golden mole live endemic in Africa with a focus of distribution in the southern part of the continent, a few species also occur in the eastern or central part. The specialized, subterranean way of life of the golden mole means that the habitats of the individual species are narrowly defined with a few exceptions. Two ecological groups can be distinguished within the family. A group includes representatives from dry to partly semi-desert landscapes, as the Grant's golden mole ( Eremitalpa ) or chrysochloris ( Chrysochloris ). In the second group are the inhabitants of the open grass and savannah landscapes as well as the forests, for example the copper gold mole ( Amblysomus ), the representatives of the genus Neamblysomus , Arends' gold mole ( Carpitalpa arendsi ) or the yellow gold mole. The inner structure of the gold mole has not yet been adequately clarified. Based on the construction of the hammer in the middle ear , two or three subfamilies are often separated from one another: the Amblysominae with a normally built malleus, the Chrysochlorinae with a greatly elongated head of the malleus and the Eremitalpinae with a spherically inflated head of the malleus. According to other researchers, the latter two form only a single subfamily, the Chrysochlorinae. Molecular genetic studies could not fully understand this subdivision of the gold mole based on skeletal anatomical differences. According to these, Calcochloris has a basal position within a group consisting of the genera Eremitalpa , Chrysochloris , Chrysospalax , Cryptochloris and others, which are generally assigned to the Chrysochlorinae, despite the normally built malleus . From an anatomical point of view, however, it should be more closely related to Amblysomus and Neamblysomus , the core group of Amblysominae.

There are three subspecies of the yellow gold mole rat:

  • C. o. Chrysillus Thomas & Schwann , 1905; in the southern plains of Mozambique from the Maputo province to Maputaland north of Lake St. Lucia in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal ; occurs in coastal bushveld grasslands as well as in the partly humid Lowveld and Bushveld; the rostrum is less than 7.1 mm wide;
  • C. o. Limpopoensis Roberts , 1946; in the Mozambican provinces of Gaza and Maputo roughly from the mouth of the Limpopo along the coast south to Maputo ; occurs in Miombo forest savannas; larger than the other subspecies with a skull length of over 22.5 mm and a width at the rostrum of over 7.2 mm; the claws are comparatively more delicate than in the nominate form;
  • C. o. Obtusirostris Peters , 1851; from the Mozambican provinces of Inhambane and Gaza westward to the Changane and Save rivers and the southeastern plains of Zimbabwe and the northern provinces of South Africa; occurs in savannahs with mopane and acacia plants ;
Wilhelm Peters

The yellow gold mole was first scientifically described by Wilhelm Peters in 1851 . During his research trip through southern Africa from 1842 to 1848, Peters had received five individuals of the species from the area around Inhambane in the Mozambican province of the same name, the region is considered a type area of ​​the yellow gold mole rat. He carried out his species description under the name Chrysochloris obtusirostris and thus within the Cape Gold Mulle. However, he noticed significant differences to these, for example in the form of the less blunt snout, the higher number of teeth and the partly different design of the front molars as well as the formation of a bony bladder on the temporal fossa to accommodate the enlarged malleus in the latter. The first description itself was kept short, the following year Peters published an extensive, multi-page depiction of the animal in his travelogue Scientific trip to Mossambique . Oldfield Thomas and Harold Schwann used two individuals from Maputo Bay in 1905 to establish what is now the subspecies C. o. Chrysillus . They used the name Amblysomus chrysillus and saw the shape as an independent species within the copper gold mulle. The animals were characterized by their generally smaller size of 8.2 and 9.3 cm overall length and their light body fur color, but were basically similar to the yellow gold mole, with which both authors compared their new shape. Just two years later, it relegated Robert Broom to the status of a subspecies of the yellow gold mole, which Austin Roberts repeated later in 1936. C. o. Limpopoensis was introduced by Roberts in 1946 on the basis of nine individuals from the region north of the mouth of the Limpopo as a subspecies of the yellow gold mole rat, the type specimen being an adult male. According to the description, the animals were characterized by a pale, reddish to yellowish-brown band above the nasal pad.

The systematic position of the yellow gold mole was controversial for a long time. So it was partially incorporated into the copper gold mulle in the 1960s to 1980s. Jurgens AJ Meester made an exception in the 1970s when he referred the yellow gold mole to Calcochloris . In the 1990s, some researchers contradicted the view that the yellow gold mole was generic in its own right, since they saw no difference between the copper gold mole and Calcochloris due to the similarly built hammer in the middle ear . Analyzes of the structure of the hyoid bone carried out during the same period , however, showed significant deviations between the yellow gold mole and the copper gold mole. This was also supported by morphometric investigations on the skulls of the gold mole from 1995. Compared to that of the copper gold mole, that of the yellow gold mole is rather short and very broad, and the rostrum also appears to be significantly widened. The striking differences prompted Gary N. Bronner to put the yellow gold mole back to Calcochloris . In addition, the yellow gold mole and the copper gold mole can also be distinguished from one another in the karyotype , which has 28 pairs of chromosomes in the former and 30 to 36 in the latter. In 2010, Bronner's assessment received support from molecular genetic studies that did not see the yellow gold mole in a closer relationship with the copper gold mole.

St. George Jackson Mivart

The genus Calcochloris goes back to St. George Jackson Mivart . He mentioned the name for the first time in 1867 in an essay on the Insectivora and compared it with Chrysochloris and Cape Goldmulls. In the following year, Mivart defined the genus more precisely by separating it from the cape gold mole, which was known at the time, due to the lower number of teeth and the talonid that he believed to have formed on the lower molars. In his description he referred to the yellow gold mole named by Wilhelm Peters in 1851. The name Calcochloris was little used in the following years. In 1907, Robert Broom assigned the generic name Chrysostricha to the yellow gold mole because of the different teeth . This was then used in many ways, especially since Austin Roberts confirmed the name in 1924 and used it to separate the forms with 36 teeth in the dentition, missing talonid and wide skull from the forms with the same number of teeth, but developed talonid and narrow skull (copper gold mullet). The generic name Calcochloris , which is valid according to the regulations of the ICZN , did not gain acceptance until the 1970s.

In the transition from the 20th to the 21st century, the Congo gold mole ( Huetia leucorhina ) and the Somalia gold mole ( Huetia tytonis ) were also members of the genus Calcochloris . This can also be traced back to Bronner 1995, who saw similarities between the three species in his morphometric study through the wide skull structure and the non-enlarged head of the hammer. However, since both the Congo and Somalia gold mole have a third molar, which is not the case with the yellow gold mole, Bronner temporarily relegated both to the subgenus Huetia (the Somalia gold mole, however, only to a limited extent, as the only one available to it standing specimen offered too few opportunities to give information; he therefore called its position incertae sedis with possibly closer ties to the Congo than to the yellow gold mole). Some scientists later followed Bronner's view. The already mentioned molecular genetic analyzes of 2010 led to the exclusion of the Congo gold mole from the genus Calcochloris , as it is closer to the desert gold mole, the cape gold mole and the genus Cryptochloris than the yellow gold mole. This had the consequence that the subgenus Huetia was raised to genus status. In a provisional study published eight years later, Bronner advocated the transfer of the Somali gold mole rat into the genus Huetia . The step was taken in the same year with the eighth volume of the standard work Handbook of the Mammals of the World , with which only the yellow gold mole remained in the genus Calcochloris .

Threat and protection

It is believed that the yellow gold mole population is not threatened by any major threats. Locally, the expansion of human settlements and the associated infrastructure in rural and urban areas have a certain influence. Agriculture and forestry also lead to some transformation of the species' habitats and primarily affect the local soil conditions on which the animals depend. However, the yellow gold mole tolerates moderate changes and can also live in less optimal areas such as plantations. The IUCN therefore lists the species as "not endangered" ( least concern ). The three subspecies are protected to different degrees. C. o. Obtusirostris occurs in the Nyadu Sandveld in the northeast of the Kruger National Park in South Africa and in the neighboring Limpopo National Park in Mozambique and in the Gonarezhou National Park in southeastern Zimbabwe. The subspecies Calcochloris o. Chrysillus is present in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and in various, partly interconnected protected areas in the border area between South Africa and Mozambique. Only C. o. Limpopoensis could not be detected within its occurrence in any protected area.

literature

  • Gary N. Bronner and Nigel C. Bennett: Calcochloris obtusirostris (Peters, 1851) - Yellow golden mole. In: John D. Skinner and Christian T. Chimimba (Eds.): The Mammals of the Southern African Subregion. Cambridge University Press, 2005, pp. 13-14
  • Gary N. Bronner: Calcochloris obtusirostris Yellow Golden-mole. In: Jonathan Kingdon, David Happold, Michael Hoffmann, Thomas Butynski, Meredith Happold and Jan Kalina (eds.): Mammals of Africa Volume I. Introductory Chapters and Afrotheria. Bloomsbury, London, 2013, pp. 235-236
  • William A. Taylor, Samantha Mynhardt and Sarita Maree: Chrysochloridae (Golden moles). In: Don E. Wilson and Russell A. Mittermeier (eds.): Handbook of the Mammals of the World. Volume 8: Insectivores, Sloths and Colugos. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona 2018, pp. 180–203 (pp. 197–198) ISBN 978-84-16728-08-4

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c d e Gary N. Bronner: Calcochloris obtusirostris Yellow Golden-mole. In: Jonathan Kingdon, David Happold, Michael Hoffmann, Thomas Butynski, Meredith Happold and Jan Kalina (eds.): Mammals of Africa Volume I. Introductory Chapters and Afrotheria. Bloomsbury, London, 2013, pp. 235-236
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Gary N. Bronner and Nigel C. Bennett: Calcochloris obtusirostris (Peters, 1851) - Yellow golden mole. In: John D. Skinner and Christian T. Chimimba (Eds.): The Mammals of the Southern African Subregion. Cambridge University Press, 2005, pp. 13-14
  3. ^ A b c Wilhelm Peters: Scientific trip to Mossambique: carried out on the orders of His Majesty the King Friedrich Wilhelm IV in the years 1842 to 1848. Berlin, 1852, pp. 1–205 (pp. 87–90) ( [1] )
  4. ^ A b c d e f William A. Taylor, Samantha Mynhardt and Sarita Maree: Chrysochloridae (Golden moles). In: Don E. Wilson and Russell A. Mittermeier (eds.): Handbook of the Mammals of the World. Volume 8: Insectivores, Sloths and Colugos. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona 2018, pp. 180–203 (pp. 197–198) ISBN 978-84-16728-08-4
  5. ^ A b S. Maree: Calcochloris obtusirostris. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2015. e.T3519A21284422. ( [2] ); last accessed on January 31, 2016
  6. ^ A b Austin Roberts: Report upon a survey of the higher vertebrates of North-Eastern Zululand. Annals of the Transvaal Museum 18, 1936, pp. 163-251
  7. ↑ a b c d Robert J Asher, Sarita Maree, Gary Bronner, Nigel C Bennett, Paulette Bloomer, Paul Czechowski, Matthias Meyer and Michael Hofreiter: A phylogenetic estimate for golden moles (Mammalia, Afrotheria, Chrysochloridae). MC Evolutionary Biology 10, 2010, p. 69 doi : 10.1186 / 1471-2148-10-69
  8. ^ A b Albert M. Simonetta: A new golden mole from Somalia with an appendix on the taxonomy of the family Chrysochloridae (Mammalia, Insectivora). Monitore Zoologico Italiano NS Supplement 2, 1968, pp. 27-55
  9. ^ Gary N. Bronner: Family Chrysochloridae Golden-moles. In: Jonathan Kingdon, David Happold, Michael Hoffmann, Thomas Butynski, Meredith Happold and Jan Kalina (eds.): Mammals of Africa Volume I. Introductory Chapters and Afrotheria. Bloomsbury, London, 2013, pp. 223-225
  10. ^ Wilhelm Peters: Communication on two new insectivors from Mossambique. Report on the negotiations of the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin, 16, 1851, pp. 467–468 ( [3] )
  11. ↑ Oldfield Thomas and Harold Schwann: The Rudd exploration of South Africa. III. List of the mammals obtained by Mr. Grant in Zululand. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1905, pp. 254-276 ( [4] )
  12. ^ A b Robert Broom: A contribution to the knowledge of the cape golden moles. Transactions of the South African Philosophical Society 18, 1907, pp. 283-311 ( [5] )
  13. ^ Austin Roberts: Descriptions of numerous new subspecies of mammals. Annals of the Transvaal Museum 20, 1946, pp. 303-328
  14. ^ A b c F. Petter: Remarques sur la systematique des Chrysochlorides. Mammalia 45 (1), 1981, pp. 49-53
  15. ^ Acacia von Mayer, G. O'Brian and EE Sarmiento: Functional and systematic implications of the ear in golden moles (Chrysochloridae). Journal of Zoology 236m 1995, pp. 417-430
  16. ^ Gary N. Bronner: Comparative hyoid morphology of nine chrysochlorid species (Mammalia: Chrysochloridae). Annals of the Transvaal Museum 35 (21), 1991, pp. 295-311
  17. ^ A b Gary N. Bronner: Systematic revision of the Golden mole genera Amblysomus, Chlorotalpa and Calcochloris (Insectivora, Chrysochloromorpha, Chrysochloridae). University of Natal, Pretoria, 1995, pp. 1-346
  18. ^ Gary N. Bronner: Cytogenetic Properties of Nine Species of Golden Moles (Insectivora: Chrysochloridae). Journal of Mammalogy 76 (3), 1995, pp. 957-971
  19. ↑ St. George Jackson Mivart: Notes on the Osteology of the Insectivora. Journal of Anatomy and Physiology 1, 1867, pp. 281-312 (p. 282) ( [6] )
  20. ↑ St. George Jackson Mivart: Notes on the Osteology of the Insectivora. Journal of Anatomy and Physiology 2 (1), 1868, pp. 117–154 (p. 133) ( [7] )
  21. ^ Austin Roberts: Some additions to the list of South African mammals. Annals of the Transvaal Museum 10 (2), 1924, pp. 59-76
  22. ↑ Don E. Wilson, DeeAnn M. Reeder (Ed.): Mammal Species of the World . 3rd edition. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 2005, ISBN 0-8018-8221-4 ( [8] )
  23. ^ Gary Bronner: An imminent updated (2017) taxonomy for golden moles. Afrotherian Conservation 14, 2018, pp. 57–59

Web links

Commons : Yellow Gold Mole ( Calcochloris obtusirostris )  - Collection of images, videos and audio files