Talpa (mammal)

Talpa
Temporal range: Miocene to Recent[1]
European mole (Talpa europaea)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Eulipotyphla
Family: Talpidae
Tribe: Talpini
Genus: Talpa
Linnaeus, 1758
Type species
Talpa europaea[2]
Linnaeus, 1758
Species

See text

Talpa[3] is a genus in the mole family Talpidae. Among the first taxa in science,[4] Carolus Linnaeus used the Latin word for "mole", talpa, in his Regnum Animale to refer to the commonly known European form of mole. The group has since been expanded to include 13 extant species, found primarily in Europe and western Asia. The European mole, found throughout most of Europe, is a member of this genus, as are several species restricted to small ranges. One species, Père David's mole, is data deficient. These moles eat earthworms, insects, and other invertebrates found in the soil.

The females of this genus have rudimentary male features such as Cowper's glands and a two-lobed prostate. A group of scientists has suggested that they are true hermaphrodites;[5] however, others state that they are fully functional females.[6]

There are 14 species in this genus:

In addition, several extinct species are known from fossil remains, here the list:

The current phylogeny of the species in the genus is shown below:

Phylogeny of the Eurasian moles according to Demırtaş et al. 2020 [9]

Talpa altaica

 Talpa ognevi

 Talpa caucasica

  1. ^ Benito, C.S.; Martinez, N.L. (1977). "El yacimiento de Escobosa de Calatanyazor (Soria) y su aportacion a la bioestratigraphia del Neogeno de la meseta castellana". In M.T. Alberdi and E. Aguirre (Eds) Round-table on Mastostratigraphy of the W. Mediterranean Neogene Trabajos Sobre Neogeno-Cuaternario. 7. Madrid: 35–40.
  2. ^ International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (1922). "Opinion 75. Twenty-Seven Generic Names of Protozoa, Vermes, Pisces, Reptilia and Mammalia Included in the Official List of Zoological Names". Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections. 73 (1): 35–37.
  3. ^ Hutterer, R. (2005). "Genus Talpa". In Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M. (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 307–309. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
  4. ^ http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Linnaeus_-_Regnum_Animale_%281735%29.png Table of the Animal Kingdom (Regnum Animale) from Carolus Linnaeus's first edition (1735) of Systema Naturae
  5. ^ Sánchez, A; Bullejos, M; Burgos, M; Hera, C; Stamatopoulos, C; Diaz De la Guardia R; Jiménez, R (1998-12-07). "Females of four mole species of genus Talpa (Insectivora, mammalia) are true hermaphrodites with ovotestes". Molecular Reproduction and Development. 44 (3): 289–294. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1098-2795(199607)44:3<289::AID-MRD2>3.0.CO;2-I. PMID 8858598. S2CID 20975321.
  6. ^ Beolchini, F; Rebecchi, L; Capanna, E; Bertolani, R (2000-06-01). "Female gonad of moles, genus Talpa (Insectivora, mammalia): ovary or ovotestis?". J Exp Zool. 286 (1): 745–54. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1097-010X(20000601)286:7<745::AID-JEZ9>3.0.CO;2-F. PMID 10797327.
  7. ^ Nicolas, Violaine; Martínez-Vargas, Jessica; Hugot, Jean-Pierre (2017). "Talpa aquitania sp. nov. (Talpidae, Soricomorpha), a new mole species from SW France and N Spain" (PDF). Mammalia. 81 (6): 641–642. doi:10.1515/MAMMALIA-2017-0057. S2CID 90926022.
  8. ^ "Two new types of mole unearthed in Turkey". BBC Newsround. 2023-08-11. Retrieved 2023-08-12.
  9. ^ Sadık Demırtaş, Metin Silsüpür, Jeremy B. Searle, David Bilton und İslam Gündüz: What should we call the Levant mole? Unravelling the systematics and demography of Talpa levantis Thomas, 1906 sensu lato (Mammalia: Talpidae). Mammalian Biology 100, 2020, S. 1–18, doi:10.1007/s42991-020-00010-4