Japanese mountain mole

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Japanese mountain mole
Japanese mountain mole (Oreoscaptor mizura)

Japanese mountain mole ( Oreoscaptor mizura )

Systematics
Order : Insect eater (Eulipotyphla)
Family : Moles (Talpidae)
Subfamily : Old World Moles (Talpinae)
Tribe : Actual moles (Talpini)
Genre : Oreoscaptor
Type : Japanese mountain mole
Scientific name of the  genus
Oreoscaptor
Kawada , 2016
Scientific name of the  species
Oreoscaptor mizura
( Günther , 1880)

The Japanese mountain mole ( Oreoscaptor mizura ) is a species of mammal from the mole family (Talpidae). It is the smallest representative of the old world moles in Asia . Outwardly, it is characterized by a slate-gray fur, a comparatively long tail and a bare patch of skin behind the nose . Its distribution area includes the mountain regions of the Japanese island of Honshū . The animals inhabit forest landscapes in medium to higher elevations. In general, the species is considered rare. As a result, there is little information available on lifestyle. The main food consists primarily of insects . The animals also create nests from plants. The Japanese mountain mole was scientifically described in 1880. In the course of the 20th century he was mostly considered a member of the Southeast Asian moles . Morphological and genetic investigations speak in favor of a reference to an independent genus within the old world moles. For this reason, the genus Oreoscaptor was introduced in 2016 . The population of the Japanese mountain mole is not threatened.

features

Habitus

The Japanese mountain mole is a small representative of the moles with a head-trunk length of 8.2 to 11.1 cm, a tail length of 2.0 to 2.7 cm and a weight of 20.5 to 32.0 g the smallest of all Asian old world moles . The tail has a rod-shaped shape and is only sparsely hairy. Its length corresponds to about 19 to 29% of the length of the rest of the body. This makes it relatively long, and it also exceeds the length of the front and rear feet, the latter have dimensions of 1.3 to 1.6 cm, the former are on average 1.4 cm long and 1.3 cm wide. The back fur has a gray to dark slate color. On the back it is made up of over 1000 individual hairs , but there are only very few guide hairs (0.4%). The muzzle is long and wide compared to the Southeast and East Asian moles ( Euroscaptor and Mogera ) and covered by whitish hair. A bare, triangular to diamond-shaped area stands out on the upper side, characterized by an elongated pit in the middle. This is caused by the heavily swollen lips on the sides. The penis is short and thick, about 5.5 mm long and 2.2 mm wide and therefore clearly different from that of the Eurasian moles ( Talpa ).

Skull and dentition features

The skull is small and graceful. Its length varies between 25.0 and 28.0 mm. The rostrum has a slender shape. It runs relatively parallel between the canine and the posterior premolar , tapers towards the front and widens towards the rear. The infraorbital foramen opens above the second molar . The zygomatic arches are poorly developed and short. Compared to the Southeast Asian moles, the posterior section of the skull is wide with a skull width that is a good 50% of the length. The lower jaw is also slender. A good two thirds of its length are used by the teeth. This makes the rear section appear very short, which again is a difference to the Southeast Asian moles. The crown and articular processes are each designed to be narrow, while the angular process is wide and thin. The bit consists of 44 teeth, the dental formula is: . The upper row of incisors forms a V. Here the innermost incisor is the largest, under the upper premolars the second is the smallest, the fourth is the largest. In the lower row of teeth, the incisors and the canines are relatively the same size and the foremost The premolar is larger than the second. The molars are generally relatively large and are characterized by five main cusps in the lower dentition. The upper row of teeth is 10.4 to 12.1 mm long, the lower 9.4 to 11.5 mm. The molars take up about 44% of the total length at the top and over 50% at the bottom.

Genetic traits

The diploid chromosome set is 2n = 36. There are 4 metacentric, 3 submetacentric, 2 subtelecentric and 8 acrocentric pairs of chromosomes. The X chromosome is submetacentric, the Y chromosome speckled.

distribution

Distribution map of the Japanese mountain mole

The Japanese mountain mole is found on the largest Japanese island, Honshū , from the regions Chūgoku in the south to Tōhoku in the north. There he inhabits coniferous and deciduous forests of the temperate alpine and subalpine zones at altitudes of 500 to 2400 m. Due to the poor vegetation cover and the rather limited food supply in these landscapes, the population density is low. As a result, the species is rarely sighted. In the western part of its distribution area it occurs sympatric with the Japan mole ( Mogera wogura ).

Way of life

Territorial behavior

Due to the rare sightings of the Japanese mountain mole, information about its way of life is rather rare. It is believed that it appears solitary and lives partly underground ( semi-fossorial ) with frequent stays on the earth's surface. The animals dig chambers up to 40 cm in diameter, which usually only have one entrance. In these chambers they make nests of broad-leaved plant material that is not crushed. A nest examined at Kyoto had a diameter of 18 cm and a height of 15 cm. The preferred locations of the nests include slopes under beech , willow and birch plants . The Japanese mountain mole often sniffs audibly when entering the shelter. Sometimes the presence of an animal is indicated by fungi belonging to the genus of the Fälblings , which preferentially grow on the latrines near the shelters. Investigations in the same region between 1977 and 1992 showed that the Japanese mountain mole always visits the same nesting places, probably in a succession of several generations. This behavior may result from the minimization of energy-consuming digging activities. Another explanation for this could be the cleaning function of the mushrooms on the latrines, which thus keep the immediate vicinity of the nests habitable for the moles for longer periods of time, creating a kind of symbiotic community.

nutrition

The Japanese mountain mole feeds mainly on invertebrates . Investigations of three stomach contents from the Japanese Alps revealed mainly remains of insects . They provided a total of two thirds of the food. These included larvae of ground beetles and two-winged beetles as well as large amounts of undetermined material. Parts of centipedes , little bristles and leeches were also found. Animals in captivity also ate earthworms and mealworms .

Reproduction

Little is known about reproduction. Newborns were observed in the nests in May. A litter may consist of up to three cubs. Probably the offspring leave the maternal nest in the period from June to August, which carcass finds advocate.

Predators and parasites

Major predators of the Japanese mountain mole are owls , foxes , badgers and weasels . Internal parasites have been identified with protozoa , roundworms and coccidia .

Systematics

Internal systematics of the actual moles according to He et al. 2016
 Talpini  




 Scaptochirus


   

 Parascaptor



   

 Euroscaptor



   

 Oreoscaptor


   

 Mogera




   

 Talpa



Template: Klade / Maintenance / Style

The Japanese mountain mole is a species of the genus Oreoscaptor and is the only representative of it. The genus is closely related to the East Asian moles ( Mogera ) and the Southeast Asian moles ( Euroscaptor ). All three genera are in turn embedded in the tribe of the actual moles (Talpini) and the mole family (Talpidae). The actual moles include the mostly digging members of the moles, while other representatives of the family only partially live underground, move above ground or pursue a semi-aquatic way of life.

Albert Günther

The first description of the species comes from the German zoologist Albert Günther and was written in 1880. Here Günther introduced the Japanese mountain mole with the scientific name Talpa mizura and referred it to the Eurasian moles ( Talpa ). He was presented with an individual who, in addition to the uniform slate-gray color of the fur, particularly stood out due to the long tail compared to the then known Japanese mole ( Mogera wogura ). In his short note, however, he could not find any further species-determining characteristics due to the poor condition. Günther named the area around Yokohama as the region of origin . Later authors took this as a mistake, since the Japanese mountain mole does not occur there. Sometimes, however, the Tanzawa mountainous region or the region around Hakone , both in Kanagawa Prefecture , are specified as a type area of ​​the species.

The Japanese mountain mole was not sighted for almost half a century, but some researchers suspected that it was a representative of the East Asian moles. It was not until the 1920s to 1940s that several other individuals were discovered, some in museum holdings. Yoshinori Imaizumi examined these and referred the species in 1948 to the genus of the Southeast Asian moles, which differs from the East Asian by the number of teeth. Imaizumi reassigned the Japanese mountain mole to the Eurasian mole in the 1950s, but numerous scholars followed its incorporation into the Southeast Asian moles, including Hisashi Abe , who studied insectivores in Japan in the 1960s . This status quo remained largely intact for the rest of the 20th century. Various molecular genetic studies in the 2000s and later revealed that the Japanese mountain mole is actually closer to the East Asian mole and forms their sister group. The separation of the two groups goes back to the Middle Miocene around 13 million years ago. In the opinion of the scientists, the split, which dates far back in time, advocated a generic position of its own for the Japanese mountain mole. Taking this as an opportunity and including further morphological studies, the Japanese zoologist Shin-ichiro Kawada introduced the new genus Oreoscaptor in 2016 . The name is derived from the Greek words ὄρος ( oros for "mountains" or "mountain") and σκάπτηρ ( skapter for "digger"), so it can be translated as "mountain graves ". It thus relates to the preferred mountainous habitat of the species. Some more modern systematics adopted the new assignment in the following, including the eighth volume of the standard work Handbook of the Mammals of the World , which deals with insectivorous mammals.

In some cases, several subspecies are distinguished within the species of the Japanese mountain mole:

The individual subspecies are not fully recognized. They are differentiated on the basis of coat color, size, and relative tail length. However, the exact distribution limits are unclear. Some Japanese researchers such as Yoshinori Imaizumi raised O. m. hiwaensis also entered its species status at the end of the 20th century, but so far only a few individuals are known or only insufficient character studies have been carried out to validate this. Individual genetic analyzes show the Japanese mountain mole to be very diverse; the split began in the Lower Pliocene 4.1 million years ago. Usually the species is listed as monotypical .

Danger

The IUCN lists the Japanese mountain mole as "not threatened" ( least concern ). Although the nature conservation organization indicates the species as rare and the distribution area as partially fragmented, it does not assume a serious decline in the total population. However, in the western part of the distribution area, landscape destruction as a result of agricultural or water management activities can lead to impairments. The Japanese mountain mole occurs in several nature reserves, such as in the Nikkō National Park .

literature

  • Shin-ichiro Kawada: Morphological Review of the Japanese Mountain Mole (Eulipotyphla, Talpidae) with the Proposal of a New Genus. Mammal Study 41 (4), 2016, pp. 191-205, doi: 10.3106 / 041.041.0404
  • 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

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Naohiko Sagara: Hair types of Japanese Insectivora, with special reference to the presence of straightguard hairs. Journal of Mammalogical Society of Japan 11, 1986, pp. 57-64
  2. ^ A b Hisashi Abe: Classification and biology of Japanese Insectivora (Mammalia). II. Biological aspects. Journal of the Faculty of Agriculture, Hokkaido University 55 (4), 1968, pp. 429–458 ( [1] )
  3. ↑ a b c d e f Shin-ichiro Kawada: Morphological Review of the Japanese Mountain Mole (Eulipotyphla, Talpidae) with the Proposal of a New Genus. Mammal Study 41 (4), 2016, pp. 191-205, doi: 10.3106 / 041.041.0404
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k 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
  5. ↑ Shin-ichiro Kawada, Masashi Harada, Yoshitaka Obara, Shuji Kobayashi, Kazuhiro Koyasu and Sen-ichi Oda: Karyosystematic Analysis of Japanese T alpine Moles in the Genera Euroscaptor and Mogera (Insectivora, Talpidae). Zoological Science 18 (7), 2001, pp. 1003-1010, doi: 10.2108 / zsj.18.1003
  6. ↑ a b c Hisashi Abe: Classification and biology of Japanese Insectivora (Mammalia). I. Studies on variation and classification. Journal of the Faculty of Agriculture, Hokkaido University 55, 1967, pp. 191-265 ( [2] )
  7. ↑ Naohiko Sagara, Shuji Kobayashi, Hidetoshi Ota, Toyoaki Itsubo and Hiroaki Okabe: Finding Euroscaptor mizura (Mammalia: Insectivora) and Its Nest from under Hebeloma radicosum (Fungi: Agaricales) in Ashiu, Kyoto, with Data of Possible Contiguous Occurrences of Three Talpine Species in This Region. Contributions from the Biological Laboratory, Kyoto University 27, 1989, pp. 261-272 ( [3] )
  8. ↑ Naohiko Sagara, Hisashi Abe and Hiroaki Okabe: The persistence of moles in nesting at the same site as indicated by mushroom fruiting and nest reconstruction. Canadian Journal of Zoology 71, 1993, pp. 1690-1693
  9. ↑ Naohiko Sagara and Yu Fukasawa: Inhabitant changes in long-term mole nesting at the same site, revealed by observing mushroom fruiting at the site. Mammalia 78 (3), 2014, pp. 383-391, doi: 10.1515 / mammalia-2013-0073
  10. ↑ Donald W. Duszynski and Alice R. Wattam: Coccidian Parasites (Apicomplexa: Eimeriidae) from Insectivores. V. Ten Forms from the Moles of Japan (Euroscaptor, Mogera spp.) Journal of Protozoology 35 (1), 1988, pp. 55-57
  11. ↑ Yasushi Yokohata: A letter review of the biology of moles in Japan. Mammal Study 30 (sp. 1), 2005, pp. S25-S30
  12. ↑ a b c 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
  13. ↑ a b c Akio Shinohara, Shin-ichiro Kawada, Nguyen Truong Son, Chihiro Koshimoto, Hideki Endo, Dang Ngoc Can, Hitoshi Suzuki: Molecular phylogeny of East and Southeast Asian fossorial moles (Lipotyphla, Talpidae). Journal of Mammalogy 95 (3), 2014, pp. 455-466, doi: 10.1644 / 13-MAMM-A-135
  14. ↑ a b E. D. Zemlemerova, AA Bannikova, VS Lebedev, VV Rozhnov and AV Abramov: Secrets of the underground Vietnam: an underestimated species diversity of Asian moles (Lipotyphla: Talpidae: Euroscaptor). Proceedings of the Zoological Institute RAS 320 (2), 2016, pp. 193-220
  15. ^ Albert Günther: Notes on some Japanese Mammalia. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, 1880, pp. 440–443 ( [4] )
  16. ↑ Akio Shinohara, Shin-ichiro Kawada, Masashi Harada, Kazuhiro Koyasu, Sen-ichi Oda and Hitoshi Suzuki: Phylogenetic relationships of the short-faced mole, Scaptochirus moschatus (Mammalia: Eulipotyphla), among Eurasian fossorial moles, as inferred and from mitochondrial nuclear gene sequences. Mammal Study 33, 2008, pp. 77-82
  17. ↑ Kai He, Akio Shinohara, Xue-Long Jiang and Kevin L. Campbell: Multilocus phylogeny of talpine moles (Talpini, Talpidae, Eulipotyphla) and its implications for systematics. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 70, 2014, pp. 513-521, doi: 10.1016 / j.ympev.2013.10.002
  18. ↑ Laginha Pinto Correia: Euroscaptor mizura. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016. e.T8385A22320533 ( [5] ); last accessed on July 23, 2020

Web links

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