Levantine mole

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Levantine mole
Systematics
Order : Insect eater (Eulipotyphla)
Family : Moles (Talpidae)
Subfamily : Old World Moles (Talpinae)
Tribe : Actual moles (Talpini)
Genre : Eurasian moles ( Talpa )
Type : Levantine mole
Scientific name
Talpa levantis
Thomas , 1906

The Levantine mole ( Talpa Levantis ), also known as Black Sea Mole called, is a mammal of the family of moles (Talpidae) within the order of insectivores (Eulipotyphla). It is a small representative, which outwardly resembles the European mole , but differs through a delicate skull structure. In addition, his eyes are covered with skin. The distribution area extends along the southern coast of the Black Sea , where the animals inhabit various landscapes from open meadows to closed forests. Little information has been gathered about their way of life, but like most Eurasian moles, the Levantine mole lives underground. The shape was scientifically introduced in 1906 as a subspecies of the blind mole . It has only been considered an independent species since the 1970s. Since then, researchers have included several populations of small moles from neighboring regions such as parts of the Balkan Peninsula or the Caucasus region in the Levantine mole. However, later genetic investigations were able to largely clarify the relationships between the individual groups and led to the separation of individual species from the complex of forms of the Levantine mole.

features

Habitus

The Levantine mole is one of the small representatives of the Eurasian mole. Its head-torso length is 8.2 to 12.5 cm. There is also a 2.0 to 3.7 cm long tail. The body weight varies from 21 to 67 g. The sexual dimorphism is only slightly pronounced, male individuals exceed the female by only 5% in body weight. The physique is comparable to that of the other Eurasian moles. It has a typical cylindrical and strong trunk as well as a short neck and shovel-like forefeet. The fur is blackish gray or black in color. The feet are tinted lighter, while the claws on the front feet appear white. The tip of the snout is white, while the nose surface is black. The eyes remain hidden under the skin. The length of the hind feet ranges from 1.45 to 2.0 cm.

Skull and dentition features

The skull is very light and narrow. The length is 29.2 to 32.5 mm, the width on the cranium 14.3 to 15.9 mm and on the zygomatic arch 10.9 to 11.9 mm. The height of the skull reaches 8.8-10.4 mm. The rostrum is narrow, with a width of 7.5 to 9.1 mm between the molars , which corresponds to around 27% of the length of the skull. At the front end, the width is 3.6 to 4.0 mm. The length of the rostrum varies from 11.7 to 13 mm. The dental formula is: . The dentition therefore consists of 44 teeth. The inner upper incisor is similar to the blind mole ( Talpa caeca ) relatively large. The molars are wide, especially the central one, which is 1.54 to 1.9 mm in diameter. The mesostyle, a small cusp between the two main cusps on the lip side (paraconus and metaconus), is one-pointed or not clearly two-pointed on the uppermost first molar. The length of the upper row of teeth varies between 11.0 and 12.2 mm.

Genetic traits

The diploid chromosome set is 2n = 34. There are 10 metacentric, 3 submetacentric and 3 subtelecentric pairs of chromosomes. The X chromosome is metacentric, the Y chromosome speckled.

distribution and habitat

Distribution area of ​​the Levantine Mole; the actual occurrence is limited to the northern Anatolian coast of the Black Sea

The Levantine mole lives in western Asia , where it inhabits the Black Sea coast of northern Turkey . The distribution area extends from Trabzon in the east to Bursa in the west. There is a gap about 200 km wide between Sinop and Zonguldak . It is unclear whether this gap is due to an actual barrier to spread or whether there is a deficit in evidence. An isolated population of the Levantine mole may be found at Tatvan in eastern Turkey. Originally, the range of the species was defined much wider and included the North Anatolian refuges, the Caucasus region in Georgia and Armenia and southern Russia , as well as the southwestern coastal area of ​​the Caspian Sea and parts of the Thracian Black Sea coast on the Balkan Peninsula . The extremely eastern group on the Caspian Sea has been assigned to the Talksh mole ( Talpa talyschensis ) since 2015 , while the Thracian populations have been assigned to the species Talpa martinorum since 2018 and those of the Caucasus region to the species Talpa transcaucasica since 2020 .

The habitats are sandy coastal strips, meadows, pastures, as well as deciduous and coniferous forests, each connected with thick and moist soils. There is a certain dependence on water, which means that the Levantine Mole can be observed on streams and river banks or in the vicinity of still waters. In Tatvan, the species occurs sympathetically with the Pater David mole ( Talpa davidiana ). In northeastern Turkey, the distribution area borders on that of the Ognev mole ( Talpa ognevi ).

Way of life

Little information is available about the way of life of the Levantine mole. Most of the evidence comes from the Caucasus region , but the animals there are assigned to Talpa transcaucasica . Like most Eurasian moles, the Levantine mole is likely to create tunnels and passages in the ground and feed on invertebrates . A suckling female was observed in June. Fleas of the genus Palaeopsylla are known to be external parasites .

Systematics

Internal systematics of the Eurasian moles according to Demırtaş et al. 2020
 Talpa  


 Talpa altaica


   

 Talpa ognevi


   

 Talpa caucasica




   


 Talpa talyschensis


   

 Talpa davidiana



   

Talpa caeca


   

 Talpa stankovici


   

 Talpa transcaucasica


   

 Talpa levantis



   

 Talpa romana


   

 Talpa martinorum


   


 Talpa occidentalis


   

 Talpa aquitania



   

 Talpa europaea





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The Levant mole is a type from the genus of the Eurasian moles ( Talpa ). The genus includes a little more than a dozen members, the best known being the European mole ( Talpa europaea ). The Eurasian moles in turn form part of the tribe of the actual moles (Talpini) and the family of moles (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 have a semi-aquatic way of life.

Oldfield Thomas

The first scientific description of the Levantine Mole was presented in 1906 by Oldfield Thomas . For this, Thomas cited a fully grown male, 12.2 cm in length, who came from Scalita south of Trabzon on what is now the eastern limit of the occurrence. The individual forms the holotype , the find region the terra typica of the species. The specimen was collected at the end of 1905. Thomas named its new form Talpa caeca levantis and classified it as a subspecies of the blind mole ( Talpa caeca ). He emphasized the flat skull of the Levantine mole as a separating feature compared to the actual blind mole. Compared to the European mole, he saw the skull as significantly smaller.

Over the next nearly seven decades, the Levantine mole retained its subspecies status. The typical caecoidal structure of the sacrum corresponds to the blind mole (the opening of the foramen on the fourth sacral vertebra is directed backwards) and differs from the europaeoidal design of the European mole (the opening of the foramen on the fourth sacral vertebra is covered by a bone bridge). Still regarded as a subspecies of the blind mole, in 1972 Ivo Grulich combined the small Caucasian moles, originally introduced by Sergei Konstantinowitsch Dahl in 1944 under the name Talpa europaea transcaucasica , with the Levantine mole, which was based on similar skull features. It was not until 1973 that Heinz Felten and colleagues regarded the Levantine mole as an independent species due to animal geography considerations. About the position of the Talysh-mole ( Talpa talyschensis ) from the southwest coast of the Caspian Sea to Felton and colleagues were not in agreement, but this end of the 1980s was also identified with the Levantine Mole, which however did not share all researchers. In 1991 at the latest, after examining individual specimens, scientists also assigned the populations from the southeastern area of ​​the Balkan Peninsula to the Levantine mole. The fact that at least the Anatolian population of the Levantine mole differed significantly from the blind mole was substantiated in the mid-1990s on the one hand by skull morphological and on the other hand by karyological studies. In addition, there were no significant differences between the shapes of the Anatolian Black Sea coast and Tatvans in eastern Anatolia in terms of skull dimensions and skull design . Due to the incorporation of the small moles of the Caucasus, the coastal area of ​​the Caspian Sea and Thrace , the species possessed an extremely extensive range at that time, which was also interrupted several times.

Molecular genetic studies, which have been increasingly carried out since the 2010s, paint a more differentiated picture . You could clearly separate the Levantine mole from the blind mole, but assign both to a western line in which numerous European forms are bordered. Within this, the Levantine mole, together with the Balkan mole ( Talpa stankovici ), forms a rather basal group, with the former already settling in the Pliocene around 3.8 million years ago. But they also showed that the Talysh mole is outside this group and has a closer relationship with the Pater David mole ( Talpa davidiana ) in Southeast Anatolia. It was therefore outsourced as an independent species. The Thracian populations, in turn, turned out to be more closely related to the European mole and received its own species status as Talpa martinorum in 2018 . In a study from 2015, presented by Anna A. Bannikova and colleagues, a deep temporal separation could also be worked out for the North Anatolian and Caucasian animals, dividing the Levantine mole into an eastern (Caucasus and Transcaucasia) and a western (Anatolia ) Group split. The division that took place at the end of the Pliocene 2.68 million years ago advocated a kind of separation of the two groups. However, no material from the type region was available during the investigation. As a result, it was not clear at this time to which group the animals of the terra typica would belong. For the time being, the researchers did not separate the eastern and western groups. This could only be clarified in 2020 and the eastern group separated as Talpa transcaucasica . In this context, however, there is uncertainty about the moles in the Bosporus area. These have not yet been included in genetic analyzes, but individual researchers also suspect a separate taxonomic group here.

Fossil finds of moles are a rather rare find. Due to individual morphological similarities, several mandibular and maxillary fragments as well as limb bones from Varshets in northern Bulgaria were referred to the Levantine mole. This affects the general dimensions, but also the design of the lower jaw and individual tooth features such as the single-pointed mesostyle or the missing parastyle on the first upper molar. The finds date to the Upper Pliocene . However, the author of the study from 2004, Vasil V. Popov , raised concerns that the systematics of European moles was not well understood at that time and that his assessment did not correspond to the current status of genetic studies. In 2018, when describing Talpa martinorum , Boris Kryštufek and colleagues noted that the Varshets finds are very similar to their new form.

Threat and protection

The Levantine mole is classified by the IUCN in the category of “ least concern” , but this includes the populations in the Caucasus, the Caspian Sea and in Thrace. No major threats to the overall population are known, and no major decline is noticeable. In Turkey, the species occurs in several nature reserves.

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. 610-611) ISBN 978-84-16728-08-4

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Boris Kryštufek and Vladimír Vohralík: Mammals of Turkey and Cyprus. Introduction, Checklist, Insectivora. Koper, 2001, pp. 1–140 (pp. 100–102)
  2. ↑ a b c d e 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. 610-611) ISBN 978-84-16728-08-4
  3. ↑ a b Ivo Grulich: A contribution to the knowledge of the Eastern Mediterranean small, blind mole forms (Talpinae). Zoologické listy 21, 1972, pp. 3–21 ( [1] )
  4. ↑ a b c Haluk Kefelıoğlu and Solmaz Gençoğlu: Karadeniz bölgesi Talpa (Mammalia, Insectivora) 'larının taksonomisi yayılışı. Turkish Journal of Zoology 20, 1996, pp. 57-66
  5. ↑ a b М. В. Зайцев: Вопросы диагностики и систематики кротов Кавказа (Insectivora, Talpidae, Talpa). Зоологииеский Журнал 78 (6), 1999, pp. 718-731
  6. ↑ a b c Boris Kryštufek: Skull analysis of small blind moles from Turkey and Iran. Folia Zoologica 50 (1), 2001, pp. 19-25 ( [2] )
  7. ^ Atilla Arslan and Jan Zima: Karyotypes of the mammals of Turkey and neighboring regions: a review. Folia Zoologica 63 (1), 2014, pp. 1–62, doi: 10.25225 / fozo.v63.i1.a1.2014
  8. ↑ Ahmet Yesari Selçuk and Haluk Kefelıoğlu: Cytogenetic characteristic of the Caucasian pygmy shrew (Sorex volnuchini) and Levant mole (Talpa levantis) (Mammalia: Eulipotyphla) in northern Anatolia, Turkey. Turkish Journal of Zoology 41, 2017, pp. 963-969, doi: 10.3906 / zoo-1607-36
  9. ↑ a b c d e 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
  10. ↑ a b c Boris Kryštufek: The distribution of the Levant Mole, Talpa levantis. Zoology in the Middle East 23 (1), 2001, pp. 17-21
  11. ↑ a b Ahmet Yesari Selçuk, Alaettin Kaya and Haluk Kefelıoğlu: Differences in shape and size of skull and mandible in Talpa species (Mammalia: Eulipotyphla) from Turkey. Zoology in the Middle East 65 (1), 2019, pp. 20-27, doi: 10.1080 / 09397140.2018.1552304
  12. ↑ a b c d 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
  13. ↑ a b c d e Boris Kryštufek, Nedko Nedyalkov, Jonas J. Astrin and Rainer Hutterer: News from the Balkan refugium: Thrace has an endemic mole species (Mammalia: Talpidae). Bonn zoological Bulletin 67 (1), 2018, pp. 41–57
  14. ↑ Friederike Spitzenberger and H. Steiner: About insectivores (Insectivora) and voles (Microtinae) of the north-eastern Turkish wet forests. Bonn Zoological Contributions 13 (4), 1963, pp. 284-310
  15. ↑ Adem Keskin: A New Flea Species of the Genus Palaeopsylla (Insecta: Siphonaptera: Ctenophthalmidae) From Turkey. Journal of Medical Entomology 57 (1), 2020, pp. 88-91
  16. ↑ 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
  17. ↑ Oldfield Thomas: New insectivores and voles collected by Mr. A. Robert near Trebizond. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 7 (17), 1906, pp. 415-421 ( [3] )
  18. ↑ Сергей Константинович Даль: Мелкие пушные звери Памбакского хребта. Зоологический Сборник Зоологический Институт Академия Наук Армянской ССР 3, 1944, pp. 47-69 ( [4] )
  19. ↑ Heinz Felten, Friederike Spitzenberger and Gerhard Storch: To the small mammal fauna of West Anatolia. Part II. Senckenbergiana biologica 54 (4/6), 1973, pp. 227–290 (pp. 230–232)
  20. ^ Vasil V. Popov and Bojan Miltchev: New Data on Morphology and Distribution of Talpa levantis Thomas, 1906 (Mammalia: Insectivora) in Bulgaria. Acta Zoologica Bulgarica 53 (3), 2001, pp. 79-95
  21. ↑ Boris Kryštufek: The taxonomy of blind moles (Talpa caeca and T. stankovici, Insectívora, Mammalia) from south-eastern Europe. Bonn Zoological Contributions 45 (1), 1994, pp. 1-16
  22. ↑ P. Colangelo, AA Bannikova, B. Kryštufek, VS Lebedev, F. Annesi, E. Capanna and A. Loy: Molecular systematics and evolutionary biogeography of the genus Talpa (Soricomorpha: Talpidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 55, 2010, pp. 372-380
  23. ↑ 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
  24. ^ Vasil V. Popov: Late Pliocene Erinaceidae and Talpidae (Mammalia: Insectivora) from Varshets (North Bulgaria). Acta zoologica cracoviensia 47 (1-2), 2004, pp. 61-80
  25. ^ N. Yigit and B. Kryštufek: Talpa levantis. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016. e.T41482A22321127 ( [5] ); last accessed on May 27, 2020

Web links

Commons : Talpa levantis  - Collection of images, videos and audio files