Eurasian moles
Eurasian moles | ||||||||||||
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European mole ( Talpa europaea ) |
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Systematics | ||||||||||||
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Scientific name | ||||||||||||
Talpa | ||||||||||||
Linnaeus , 1758 |
The Eurasian moles ( Talpa ) are a genus of mammals from the mole family (Talpidae). The genus includes around a dozen species living in Europe and northern and western Asia, of which the European mole is probably the best known.
features
The Eurasian moles have the "mole-typical" body structure of the actual moles and differ from the other genera of this tribe primarily in the number and construction of the teeth. Their bodies are cylindrical, their forelegs are almost hairless and transformed into digging tools that end in powerful claws. The eyes are very small and hidden in the fur, there are no external auricles. The snout is pointed and, like the short tail, only sparsely hairy. The thick fur is usually gray in color, but the coloration can vary from white-gray to black. These animals reach head body lengths of 9 to 18 centimeters, a tail length of 1.5 to 3.5 centimeters and a weight of 65 to 120 grams.
distribution and habitat
Eurasian moles are common in large parts of Europe as well as in northern and western Asia (as far as Mongolia and northern Iran ).
Way of life
Eurasian moles spend almost their entire lives in self-dug, underground tunnel systems that can extend up to 1 meter deep. These corridors usually have a central nest, two circular, interconnected corridors and individual tunnels leading into neighboring areas. They are active both day and night and live solitary outside of the mating season.
food
The food consists mostly of insects and earthworms , some of which are stored in the burrows. Sometimes they also ingest small vertebrates such as snakes , lizards , mice, and small birds . Due to their high metabolic rate , they have to eat almost constantly, and reports have shown that they can die after 10 to 12 hours without eating.
Reproduction
Usually the female gives birth to two to seven (usually three or four) young animals once a year (in spring) after a gestation period of around 28 days. After about a month, the young leave the mother's nest, but remain near her for a while. Sexual maturity does not occur before the second half of life.
Systematics
Internal systematics of the Eurasian moles according to Demırtaş et al. 2020
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The genus of Eurasian moles includes 14 species:
- The Siberian or Altai mole ( Talpa altaica ) inhabits the taiga of Siberia between Ob and Lena and northern Mongolia .
- The Aquitaine mole ( Talpa aquitania ) was described in 2017 and is found in southwestern France and northern Spain .
- The blind mole ( Talpa caeca ) occurs in southern and southeastern Europe and possibly in Asia Minor .
- The Caucasian mole ( Talpa caucasica ) lives in the region north of the Caucasus .
- The Father David Mole ( Talpa davidiana ) only inhabits a small area in southeastern Turkey and northwestern Iran . This species also includes the Persian mole, which was previously classified as an independent and, according to the IUCN, "critically endangered".
- The European mole ( Talpa europaea ) occurs from central Europe to central Russia (in the area of the Ob and Irtysh rivers ).
- The Levantine or Black Sea Mole ( Talpa levantis ) inhabits Bulgaria as well as parts of Turkey and the Caucasus region.
- Talpa martinorum was described in 2018 and occurs in the European part of Turkey and in neighboring Bulgaria.
- The Iberian mole ( Talpa occidentalis ) lives on the Iberian Peninsula .
- The Ognev mole ( Talpa ognevi ) is common in northeastern Turkey and neighboring Georgia .
- The Roman mole ( Talpa romana ) occurs in Italy and southeastern France and possibly in Sicily .
- The Balkan mole ( Talpa stankovici ) lives in the south of the Balkan Peninsula ( Greece , Macedonia and Albania ).
- The Talysh mole ( Talpa talyschensis ) occurs on the southern coast of the Caspian Sea from southern Azerbaijan to the Iranian Elburs Mountains and was originally considered a subspecies of the Levantine mole, but according to genetic analyzes it is not closely related to it.
- Talpa transcaucasica occurs in eastern Anatolia and was split off from the Levantine mole as an independent species in 2020.
Molecular genetic studies from 2014 and 2015 indicate that the European mole ( Talpa europaea ) forms three monophyletic lines each . These include the actual European mole, a population on the northern Apennine Peninsula and one in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. The latter was raised to species level in 2015 and was first described as Talpa aquitania . The Levantine mole ( Talpa Levantis ) and the Caucasian mole ( Talpa caucasica ) contain further genetic analyzes indicate possibly more cryptic species . In the first case this speaks for the independence of the eastern form Talpa transcaucasica , in the latter case Talpa ognevi is to be regarded as a separate species. For Talpa ognevi , this step was taken in 2018 in the eighth volume of the standard work Handbook of the Mammals of the World ; Talpa transcaucasica received an independent species status in 2020. Until recently, the genera of the Southeast Asian moles ( Euroscaptor ), the East Asian moles ( Mogera ), the white-tailed moles ( Parascaptor ) and short-faced moles ( Scaptochirus ) that live in East and Southeast Asia were also incorporated into this genus. Differences in the construction and number of teeth led to the separation of these genera from the Eurasian moles.
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 (pp. 609-614) ISBN 978-84-16728-08-4
- Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. 2 volumes. 6th edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD et al. 1999, ISBN 0-8018-5789-9 .
- Don E. Wilson , DeeAnn M. Reeder (Eds.): Mammal Species of the World. A taxonomic and geographic Reference. 2 volumes. 3. Edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD 2005, ISBN 0-8018-8221-4 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d 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
- ↑ a b 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 (pp. 609-614) ISBN 978-84-16728-08-4
- ↑ Boris Kryštufek, Nedko Nedyalkov, Jonas J. Astrin and Rainer Huttere]: News from the Balkan refugium: Thrace has an endemic mole species (Mammalia: Talpidae). Bonn zoological Bulletin 67 (1), 2018, pp. 41–57
- ↑ a b 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
- ↑ a b 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
- ^ Boris Krystufek: The distribution of the Levant Mole, Talpa levantis. Zoology in the Middle East 23 (1), 2001, pp. 17-21, doi: 10.1080 / 09397140.2001.10637863
- ↑ 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, doi: 10.1093 / molbev / msw221
- ↑ 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
- ↑ 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
- ↑ 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
Web links
- Endangerment level of the individual species in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species .