The desman, a snouted and naked-tailed diving insectivore of the tribe Desmanini (also considered a subfamily, Desmaninae), belongs to one of two Eurasian species of the mole family,

Talpidae The family Talpidae () includes the moles (some of whom are called shrew moles and desmans) who are small insectivorous mammals of the order Eulipotyphla. Talpids are all digging animals to various degrees: moles are completely subterranean ...

. This tribe consists of two

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

genera of semiaquatic

insectivore A robber fly eating a hoverfly An insectivore is a carnivorous animal or plant that eats insects. An alternative term is entomophage, which can also refer to the human practice of eating insects. The first vertebrate insectivores wer ...

s found in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

: one in Russia and the other in the northwest of the

Iberian peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...

and

Pyrenees The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to ...

. Both species are considered to be vulnerable. They have webbed paws and their front paws are not well-adapted for digging. Desmans were much more diverse and widespread during the

Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recent" ...

, with one genus, ''Gaillardia'', being present in North America. Both living species are thought to have derived from the fossil genus '' Archaeodesmana.'' The list of species is: *Genus '' Desmana'' **

Russian desman The Russian desman (''Desmana moschata'') (russian: выхухоль ''vykhukhol'') is a small semiaquatic mammal that inhabits the Volga, Don and Ural River basins in Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. It constructs burrows into the banks of ponds ...

(''D. moschata'') *Genus ''

Galemys ''Galemys'' is a genus of mole containing the living Pyrenean desman ''(Galemys pyrenaicus)'' and several fossil species. Many of these extinct species were far more widespread than the living species; for example, the Early Pleistocene ''Galem ...

'' **

Pyrenean desman The Pyrenean desman also called Iberian desman (''Galemys pyrenaicus'') is a small semiaquatic, globally threatened mammal related to moles and shrews, and, along with the Russian desman (''Desmana moschata''), is one of the two extant members ...

(''G. pyrenaicus'') * Genus †'' Archaeodesmana'' Miocene-Pliocene, Europe * Genus †'' Gaillardia'' Miocene, North America * Genus †'' Mygalinia'' Late Miocene, Hungary Galemys pyrenaicus 02 crop-by-dpc.jpg, The bare snout of ''

Galemys pyrenaicus The Pyrenean desman also called Iberian desman (''Galemys pyrenaicus'') is a small semiaquatic, globally threatened mammal related to moles and shrews, and, along with the Russian desman (''Desmana moschata''), is one of the two extant members ...

'' Galemys pyrenaicus MHNT.INS.29.jpg, ''

'' Desmana moschata MHNT.INS.10.jpg, '' Desmana moschata''

In the media

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References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q940295 Talpidae Aquatic mammals Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas