Fynbos gold mole
| Fynbos gold mole | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Amblysomus corriae | ||||||||||||
| Thomas , 1905 |
The Fynbos gold mole ( Amblysomus corriae ) is a species of the gold mole , its range extends along the coastal region of the South African provinces of the Western and Eastern Cape . Up to now, however, it has only been found there in a little more than a dozen localities, which are spread over two populations . Like the other gold mulle, fynbos gold mulle are characterized by a characteristic spindle-shaped body that has no externally visible ears and also no tail. The strong claws that enable the fynbos gold mole to dig in the ground are also striking. It feeds on insects, but its way of life is little explored. The species was described as early as 1905, but in the course of time it was mostly assigned to other representatives of the golden mole. Not until 1996 was it recognized again as an independent form. The fynbos gold mole population is considered to be potentially endangered.
features
Habitus
The fynbos gold mole represents a medium-sized representative of the copper gold mole ( Amblysomus ). In 43 individuals examined, the head-torso length varied from 10.8 to 13 cm and the weight ranged from 46 to 64 g. A distinctive sexual dimorphism is not developed, but males are on average slightly larger than females. Characteristic features of all Goldmulle can be found in the externally invisible tail and the absence of the auricles , and the body is conspicuously spindle-shaped. Overall, the fynbos gold mole resembles the Hottentot gold mole ( Amblysomus hottentotus ), but its fur is a little darker in color. On the back it has a smoky-black to reddish-brown coloration, and on the belly it brightens to a brown-gray to pale orange. The individual hairs are 8 to 9 mm long. At the base they have a slate-gray color, the tips are iridescent black to red-brown. Shortly before the tip there is also a brown-gray band. The muzzle and cheeks are lighter in tint than the back, and narrow yellow-brown spots appear in the area around the eyes. The limbs are robustly built, in front they end in four-pointed hands, behind in five-pointed feet. All rays have strong claws, the middle (third) hand is particularly robust. It has a base width of 4.5 to 5.6 mm and an overall length of 13 to 15 mm. Overall, it appears a bit slimmer than that of the Hottentot gold mole. The rear foot length is 12 to 16 mm.
Skull and dentition features
The skull length is 25.3 to 28.9 mm, the width 14.7 to 16.9 mm. There are no differences between males and females with regard to individual skull dimensions. In general, the skull is somewhat longer than that of the Hottentot gold mole, the ratio of width to length is less than 59%. Accordingly, the palatal bone is also designed a little longer. The bit comprises a total of 36 teeth and has the following tooth formula : . The rearmost molar is usually not formed. The lower molars show a well-developed talonid. The anterior premolar is bicuspid or sectorial due to its two-humped appearance . The length of the row of teeth from the upper canine tooth to the upper second, rear molar tooth is 5.6 to 7 mm.
distribution
The Fynbos gold mole is endemic to Africa and occurs in a narrowly defined area in South Africa along the south coast from the wine region in the Western Cape Province to Humansdorp in the Eastern Cape . Further to the east, the Fynbos gold mole is replaced by the Hottentot gold mole. The entire distribution area extends to around 20,000 km² at altitudes of 10 to 1200 m above sea level. Within this, however, the species is only occupied by 16 localities, which take up an area of around 256 km². The localities are spread over habitats with sandy and slightly loamy soils within the fynbos and Renosterveld vegetation zones. In the southern part of the distribution area, the animals also colonize montane forest landscapes, and they can also be found in savannah areas. In large parts of the inhabited landscapes, the fynbos gold mole lives sympathetically with Duthie's gold mole ( Chlorotalpa duthieae ), but the latter prefers denser forests and thus a different microhabitat . In Stellenbosch there is also a common occurrence with the Cape golden mole ( Chrysochloris asiatica ), but here the fynbos golden mole uses more humid soils. It can also be found in gardens, on plantations and in cultivated landscapes, but the population density then decreases. It can be quite common locally, but quantitative data are not available.
Way of life
Little information is available about the way of life of the fynbos gold mole. The animals are solitary with the exception of mother and young animal communities. The main activity takes place at night. The species feeds on insects. Individual stomach contents examined contained smaller earthworms , as well as cicadas and centipedes . In human captivity, the animals also ate mealworms , grasshoppers, and young mice . The fynbos gold mole searches for food underground in tunnels just below the surface of the earth. Only occasionally does it come to the surface of the earth, but disappears again before it devours its prey. Sometimes the search for prey is accompanied by soft, chirping vocalizations. Pregnant females have been observed in May, August and December, which suggests that reproduction is independent of the season. As a rule, two young animals are born per litter, which are hairless as nestlings . Individual animals are occasionally preyed on by the barn owl .
Systematics
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Internal systematics of the gold mole according to Asher et al. 2010
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The fynbos gold mole is a species from the genus of copper gold mole ( Amblysomus ), to which another four members belong. Thus, the amblysomus make the most variants group within the family of the golden moles are (Chrysochloridae). The golden moles are endemic in Africa widespread group of smaller, ground grave forming mammals from the superiority of the Afrotheria . They mainly inhabit southern Africa, a few species are also found in eastern or central Africa. Their highly specialized way of life means that, with few exceptions , the habitats of the individual species are mostly very limited. Two ecological groups can be distinguished within the gold mole. To the one forms include dry to partly semi-desert-like regions such as the Grant's golden mole ( Eremitalpa ) or chrysochloris ( Chrysochloris ). On the other side are the inhabitants of open grass and savannah landscapes as well as forests, for example the copper gold mole, the giant gold mulle ( Chrysospalax ) or Arends' gold mulle ( Carpitalpa ). There is no complete agreement on the internal structure of the family. Often two or three subfamilies are assumed that differ in 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. The latter two are sometimes combined into a subfamily, the Chrysochlorinae. However, this subdivision of the gold mole, based on differences in skeletal anatomy, has not yet been fully confirmed by genetic findings. According to molecular genetic studies, Neamblysomus and Carpitalpa belong to the immediate family of Amblysomus .
There are two known subspecies of the fynbos gold mole:
- A. c. corriae Thomas , 1905; widespread in the coastal plains below the Outeniqua , Kouga and Baviaanskloof Mountains, for example from George in the Western Cape Province to Humansdorp in the Eastern Cape; the back is uniformly smoky black, the belly light brown-gray; but the clearly red-brown impact on the sides and belly, as occurs in the Hottentot gold mole rat ( Amblysomus hottentotus ), is missing .
- A. c. devilliersi Roberts , 1946; from Stellenbosch and Paarl in the Western Cape east to the Langeberg Mountains near Riversdale and north to Worcester , but not into the dry Karoo ; the back is reddish-black, the fur becomes more reddish towards the sides, the belly is reddish brown or pale orange. There is a greater variation in the color of the fur in terms of the extent of the reddish-brown coloration. In some individuals it is limited to a small impact on the flanks, in others it extends to the back, so that the black-brown color there is only a narrow central stripe; possibly this variation is connected with the change of coat.
In the anatomy of the skull, A. c. corriae through a significantly narrower interocular region and a narrower and shorter palatal bone of A. c. devilliersi .
The first scientific description of the species Amblysomus corriae was in 1905 by Oldfield Thomas . He used a male individual that had been collected in the same year by Charles Dunell Rudd during his explorations in South Africa near Knysna in the Western Cape and given to the Natural History Museum in London. Thomas chose the additional corriae to honor Rudd's wife Corrie Maria Wallace. The area around Knysna is to be regarded as the type region of Amblysomus corriae , but the exact systematic position of this representative of the golden mole was disputed for a long time. Only a few years later, Robert Broom saw the form as a subspecies of the Hottentot gold mole rat (which he called Chrysochloris hottentotus ), while Alberto M. Simonetta again granted it its own species status in 1968. In the following time it was mostly considered a subspecies of Amblysomus iris , a population from Zululand that was sometimes referred to as the "Zulu gold mole". In a morphometric study of skulls of the genus Amblysomus , Gary N. Bronner recognized in 1996 that the type form of Amblysomus iris is much more closely related to the Hottentot golden mole rat and that the subspecies A. i. corriae differs markedly from this in the characteristics. The shape shows stronger similarities with gold mole from the Western Cape, which was introduced in 1946 by Austin Roberts under the name Amblysomus hottentotus devilliersi as a further subspecies of the Hottentot gold mole. Since a third subspecies of Amblysomus iris , A. i. septentrionalis , which stood out from most of the other copper gilds with their 30 -paired chromosome set by a 34-pair chromosome set , Bronner dissolved the species and united the two subspecies A. i. corriae and A. h. devilliersi to Amblysomus corriae . He raised the representative of the Cape gold mole again to the status of a species and gave it the trivial name Fynbos-Goldmull (since "Zulu-Goldmull" was unacceptable due to the different distribution and the alternative name "Knysna-Goldmull" was already scientifically proven by another species of Goldmull) .
Hazard and protection
The landscape in which the Fynbos gold mole lives has been subject to major changes for a long time, caused by agricultural and forestry development and the expansion of human settlements. If the interventions are not too severe, the animals can adapt to these changes. In addition, the tourist development of the region and certain climatic changes also play a role, which lead to the loss of favorable habitats or a decline in individual populations. Local poisoning and displacement by horticulturists or art gardeners or the capture of individuals by domestic dogs and cats are of importance. The IUCN classifies the fynbos gold bull as " near threatened ". Both subspecies are present in individual nature reserves, according to A. c. corriae in the Garden Route National Park or in the Diepwalle Forest Reserve , A. c. devilliersi in turn in the Jonkershoek conservation area or from the Limietberg nature reserve .
literature
- Gary N. Bronner and Nigel C. Bennett: Amblysomus corriae Thomas, 1905 - Fynbos Golden mole. In: John D. Skinner and Christian T. Chimimba (Eds.): The Mammals of the Southern African Subregion. Cambridge University Press, 2005, pp. 16-17
- Gary N. Bronner: Amblysomus corriae Fynbos 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. 226-227
- 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. 197) ISBN 978-84-16728-08-4
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Gary N. Bronner and Nigel C. Bennett: Amblysomus corriae Thomas, 1905 - Fynbos Golden mole. In: John D. Skinner and Christian T. Chimimba (Eds.): The Mammals of the Southern African Subregion. Cambridge University Press, 2005, pp. 16-17
- ↑ a b c d e f Gary N. Bronner: Amblysomus corriae Fynbos 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. 226-227
- ^ A b c d 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. 197) ISBN 978-84-16728-08-4
- ^ A b Gary N. Bronner and S. Mynhardt: Amblysomus corriae. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2015. e.T62006A21284863 ( [1] ); last accessed on October 26, 2015
- ↑ Cassandra Pinheiro, Michaela L. Venter, Lauren Sahd, Gary N. Bronner and Sanet H. Kotzé: Comparative gastrointestinal morphology of seven golden mole species (Mammalia: Chrysochloridae) from South Africa. Journal of Morphology 279, 2018, pp. 1776-1786
- ^ A b 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
- ^ 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
- ^ 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
- ↑ Oldfield Thomas: Examples of a new golden mole from Knysna, Cape Colony. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 1905, pp. 57-58 ( [2] )
- ^ Robert Broom: A contribution to the knowledge of the Cape golden moles. Transactions of the South African Philosophical Society 18, 1907, pp. 283-311 ( [3] )
- ^ Gary N. Bronner: Cytogenetic Properties of Nine Species of Golden Moles (Insectivora: Chrysochloridae). Journal of Mammalogy 76 (3), 1995, pp. 957-971
- ^ Gary N. Bronner: Geographic patterns of morphometric variation in the Hottentot golden mole, Amblysomus hottentotus (Insectivora: Chrysochloridae). A multivariate analysis. Mammalia 60 (4), 1996, pp. 729-751
Web links
- Amblysomus corriae in the Red List of Threatened Species of IUCN , 2015. Posted by: G. Bronner & S. Mynhardt, 2014. Accessed October 26, 2015.