Arends' gold mole

Arends' gold mole
Systematics
Superordinate : Afrotheria without rank: Afroinsectiphilia Order : Tenrecus (Afrosoricida) Family : Gold mole (Chrysochloridae) Genre : Carpitalpa Type : Arends' gold mole
Scientific name of the  genus
Carpitalpa
Lundholm , 1955
Scientific name of the  species
Carpitalpa arendsi
( Lundholm , 1955)

Arends' golden mole ( Carpitalpa arendsi ) is a species of mammal from the golden mole family (Chrysochloridae). It lives endemically in southern Africa. Its population is limited to a few localities in the highlands of eastern Zimbabwe , where it inhabits mountain forests and grasslands with loamy soils. The animals are built relatively robust, but with their spindle-shaped body, which is missing externally visible ears and a tail, and the strong grave claws on the forefeet, they resemble the other gold mole rats. As a result, Arends' Goldmull is adapted to a life underground, hardly anything is known about the further way of life. The species was scientifically described in 1955, its population is considered endangered.

features

Habitus

Arends' gold mole is a medium-sized representative of the gold mole. It reaches a head-to-trunk length of 11.5 to 14.1 cm, the weight varies from 43 to 70 g. Males grow slightly larger than females on average. The physique of the animals is similar to that of the moles , with which they are however not related. They are comparatively robust and adapted to a digging way of life, which is expressed by the spindle-shaped body and the lack of externally visible ears and a tail. The eyes are also hidden under the fur, the snout has a leather-like padding that, like the strong claws of the front limbs, is used for digging. The fur is black or dark brown-black on the top and gray-brown on the underside, it can have a green or reddish shimmering, metallic sheen. The undercoat has a dark gray color. The throat and cheeks appear slightly lighter than the back, as do the legs. White spots of color appear near the eyes. The limbs are short and strong. The four-pointed hands and five-pointed feet each have claws, those of the hands are transformed into grave claws. The central claw is the most developed, it has a length of 9 to 12 mm and a base width of 3.5 to 4 mm, which makes it appear rather slender. The claw of the second finger is a quarter shorter, that of the first even shorter and narrower. On the fourth finger there is only a greatly reduced, button-like claw. The hind foot length varies from 12 to 16 mm.

Skull and dentition features

The skull has a total length of 25.3 to 29 mm and a width of 15.8 to 17.5 mm. Overall, the skull appears comparatively slim, its greatest width, which is in the area of ​​the brain skull, reaches less than 65% of the length. The rostrum is also narrow, the palate has a width of 28 to 29% of the greatest skull length. No clear gender dimorphism can be determined in the expression of the characteristics . The zygomatic arch is completely closed, but does not show any broad, backward-oriented plates, as occurs in the giant gold mole ( Chrysospalax ). The most striking feature is the clearly inflated head of the hammer in the middle ear , but the enlargement is not very strong, so that the head is not located in an externally visible, bony bulge on the temporal bone , in contrast, for example, to the cape gold mole ( Chrysochloris ). Overall, it appears oval extended, but slightly laterally flattened, the total weight of the malleus is 4 mg, Bits of Arends' Goldmull consists of a total of 40 teeth, the dental formula is as follows: . In the upper jaw, the rearmost (third) molar is very small; like the anterior, it has a three-humped ( tricuspid ) chewing surface pattern. A distinct talonid is missing on the molars of the lower jaw (a deep protrusion of the chewing surface into which one of the main cusps of the upper molars grips when the bite is closed), which is sometimes still developed in young animals. The upper premolars are partially molarized and thus resemble the molars . In contrast to the rear molars, they lack a clear indentation between the cusps. The row of teeth from the canine to the third molar measures between 6.5 and 7.7 mm in the upper jaw. ${\displaystyle {\frac {3.1.3.3}{3.1.3.3}}}$

distribution

Distribution area (green) of Arends' Goldmull

Arends' gold mole is endemic to southern Africa . He lives in a small area in the Inyangani Highlands in eastern Zimbabwe between the 20th and 18th parallel degrees of southern latitude , which extends marginally to Mozambique in the east. The altitude distribution ranges from 850 to 2000 m. The species is known from only ten localities there, which are spread over a total area of ​​15,515 km², the actually inhabited area takes 1050 km². The occurrence is limited to the Zambezi-Walland zone. The animals prefer open lands interspersed with tufts of grass or forest edges of the montane landscapes and have also been observed in river valleys with a lot of leaf loss or dense subsurface vegetation. They are bound to loamy soils. Sometimes the species can be found in cultivated areas such as gardens, some evidence also comes from loose heaps of earth that arose during earthworks. The animals occur frequently locally, but quantitative data are not available.

Way of life

Little is known about the way of life of Arends' Goldmull. Like all gold mole, it lives mostly underground, where it digs passages to search for food and as resting places. The enlarged malleus of the middle ear may have the consequence that the animals can better perceive seismic vibrations underground. The tunnels lie just below the surface of the earth and can be seen above ground as small earth walls. They often begin at tree roots or tufts of grass and then run irregularly between the gaps in the tussock meadows or in more open terrain. It is possible that the animals also keep individual areas free of vegetation through their burial activity, as tunnelled and thus dead tufts of grass suggest. In the grassy areas, Arends' gold mole coexists with the common lamellar tooth rat . Especially after rainfall, the animals can also be found on the surface of the earth. The diet is likely to consist mainly of invertebrates such as earthworms and insects . Nothing is known about the reproductive behavior.

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

Arends' Goldmull is a species from the genus Carpitalpa and its only representative. The genus belongs to the family of the gold mole (Chrysochloridae), in which small, soil-digging mammals from the parentage of the Afrotheria are summarized. The closest relatives are the Tenreks (Tenrecidae), the two families together form the Afrosoricida . According to molecular genetic studies, the separation of the golden mole and the tenreks from a common lineage extends from the Upper Cretaceous to the Paleocene around 65 million years ago. The gold mole began to diversify about 28.5 million years ago during the Oligocene .

The golden mole are endemic to Africa . Their main distribution is in the southern continental area, only a few species also inhabit parts of eastern or central Africa. As a result of their subterranean way of life, the habitats of the individual species have narrow boundaries with a few exceptions. Two ecological groups can be distinguished within the family. The first group, the representatives are dry to partly semi-desert-like counted landscapes, the Grant's golden mole ( Eremitalpa ) or chrysochloris ( Chrysochloris ). The second group includes the inhabitants of open grass and savannah landscapes and forests, such as Arends' gold mole, but also the copper gold mole ( Amblyomus ), members of the genus Neamblysomus or the giant gold mole ( Chrysospalax ). The internal structure of the family has not yet been satisfactorily clarified. Often two or three subfamilies are differentiated based on the construction of the hammer in the middle ear : 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. Other authors, however, see the latter two as a single subfamily, the Chrysochlorinae. Molecular genetic studies do not yet fully support this subdivision of the gold mole based on differences in skeletal anatomy. According to them, Carpitalpa has a closer relationship with Amblysomus and Neamblysomus , which are generally assigned to the Amblysominae, while the enlarged hammer of the middle ear advocated integration into the Chrysochlorinae from an anatomical point of view.

Regional variations or subspecies of Arends' gold mole are not known. The first scientific description was presented by Bengt Lundholm in 1955. He gave the species the scientific name Chlorotalpa (Carpitalpa) arendsi and thus assigned it to the genus Chlorotalpa , which also includes Sclater's gold mole ( Chlorotalpa sclateri ). Lundholm assigned the specific epithet after taxidermist Nicolas Arends (according to other sources Nicholas P. Arends) from the Kaffrarian Museum , who had collected the type specimen in early 1951 . This includes a male animal with a total length of 11.5 cm with a 10 mm long tail and 15 mm long hind feet. It comes from the Pungwe waterfall in the Inyangani highlands at 2000 m elevation, the region is regarded as a type area of ​​Arends' gold mole. In 1968 Alberto M. Simonetta raised the subgenus Carpitalpa to the genus status , citing the greater inflation of the hammer in the middle ear compared to Chlorotalpa . He also referred Stuhlmann's gold mole ( Chrysochloris stuhlmanni ), a representative of the Cape gold mole ( Chrysochloris ), to Carpitalpa . Later authors disagreed with this, such as Jurgens AJ Meester , who in 1974 re-classified Stuhlmann's gold mole in the Cape gold mole, while he saw Arends' gold mole again as a representative of Chlorotalpa . Morphometric studies, which Gary N. Bronner presented in the mid-1990s, demonstrated the independence of Carpitalpa and thus of Arends' Goldmull at the genus level. This was later confirmed by molecular genetic data, according to which, in addition, Stuhlmann's gold mole is clearly related to the Cape gold mole.

Like the scientific name, the German common name refers to Nicolas Arends, the discoverer of the specimen copy. Occasionally the terms “Arends Goldmull” and “Arend-Goldmull” are used in German.

Threat and protection

The IUCN lists Arends' gold mole as "threatened" ( vulnerable ). The reasons for this lie in the small area of ​​distribution, the destruction of its habitat and the political instability in its home region, which means that protective measures have little effect. The latter, for example, leads to only limited management of the Nyanga National Park , which includes the largest part of the total range of the species. In the past, this has resulted in a considerable loss of natural habitat through annual wild fires, uncontrolled logging or overgrazing. At present, however, neither the scope and intensity of these threats nor their impact on the population has been investigated in more detail. However, it is assumed that the population will decline. The capture by domestic dogs and cats also has a local influence . In addition to the Nyanga National Park, Arends' Goldmull is also represented in the Chimanimani National Park .

literature

• Gary N. Bronner and Nigel C. Bennett: Genus Carpitalpa Lundholm, 1955. In: John D. Skinner and Christian T. Chimimba (Eds.): The Mammals of the Southern African Subregion. Cambridge University Press, 2005, p. 10
• Gary N. Bronner: Genus Carpitalpa Arends's 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. 237-238
• Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World . The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 1999, ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
• 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 (p. 200) ISBN 978-84-16728-08-4
• Don E. Wilson and DeeAnn M. Reeder (Eds.): Mammal Species of the World . 3rd edition. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 2005, ISBN 0-8018-8221-4

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} Bengt G. Lundholm: Descriptions of New Mammals Annals of the Transvaal Museum 22, 1955, pp. 279-303
2. ^ ^{A b c d e f g} Gary N. Bronner and Nigel C. Bennett: Genus Carpitalpa Lundholm, 1955. In: John D. Skinner and Christian T. Chimimba (eds.): The Mammals of the Southern African Subregion. Cambridge University Press, 2005, p. 10
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Gary N. Bronner: Genus Carpitalpa Arends's 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. 237-238
4. ^ ^{A b c} 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 (p. 200) ISBN 978-84-16728-08-4
5. ↑ Matthew J. Mason, Sarah J. Lucas, Erica R. Wise, Robin S. Stein and Melinda J. Duer: Ossicular density in golden moles (Chrysochloridae). Journal of Comparative Physiology A 192, 2006, pp. 1349-1357
6. ^ ^{A b} Matthew J. Mason: Functional Morphology of the Middle Ear in Chlorotalpa Golden Moles (Mammalia, Chrysochloridae): Predictions From Three Models. Journal of Morphology 261, 2004, pp. 162-174
7. ^ ^{A b} Gary N. Bronner: Carpitalpa arendsi. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2015. e.T40596A21289173 ( [1] ); last accessed on December 28, 2015
8. ↑ ^{a b c} 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
9. Jump up ↑ Robert W. Meredith, Jan E. Janečka, John Gatesy, Oliver A. Ryder, Colleen A. Fisher, Emma C. Teeling, Alisha Goodbla, Eduardo Eizirik, Taiz LL Simão, Tanja Stadler, Daniel L. Rabosky, Rodney L. Honeycutt, John J. Flynn, Colleen M. Ingram, Cynthia Steiner, Tiffani L. Williams, Terence J. Robinson, Angela Burk-Herrick, Michael Westerman, Nadia A. Ayoub, Mark S. Springer, and William J. Murphy: Impacts of the Cretaceous Terrestrial Revolution and KPg Extinction on Mammal Diversification. Science 334, 2011, pp. 521-524
10. ↑ C. Gilbert, PC O'Brien, G. Bronner, F. Yang, A. Hassanin, MA Ferguson-Smith and TJ Robinson: Chromosome painting and molecular dating indicate a low rate of chromosomal evolution in golden moles (Mammalia, Chrysochloridae) . Chromosome Research 14, 2006, pp. 793-803
11. ^ Gary N. Bronner: Order Afrosoricida Tenrecs, Otter-Shrews, 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. 214-215
12. ^ ^{A b} Alberto 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
13. ^ 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
14. ^ Galen B. Rathbun: Eponyms in the Afrotheria: Who were the people that had Afrotheria species named after them? Afrotherian Conservation 9, 2012, pp. 5-6
15. ^ Theodor CH Cole: Dictionary of Mammal Names - Dictionary of Mammal Names. Berlin, Heidelberg, 2015, p. 30

Web links

Commons : Arends' Goldmull ( Carpitalpa arendsi )  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Carpitalpa arendsi in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2014 Posted by: G. Bronner, 2006. Accessed on 28/12/2015.
• Goldmulle at the Afrotheria Specialist Group