The Levant mole (''Talpa levantis'') is a species of

mammal Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...

in the 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 a ...

. It is found in

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, and

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. There are two

subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species, used for populations that live in different areas and vary in size, shape, or other physical characteristics (morphology), but that can successfully interbreed. Not all species ...

, ''T. l. levantis'' and ''T. l. transcaucasica'' (the Transcaucasian mole); the latter is sometimes considered a distinct species, but more recent studies have refuted this. In addition, the

Talysch mole The Talysch mole (''Talpa talyschensis'') is a species of mammal in the family Talpidae. It is a small member of the family, which outwardly resembles the Levant mole (''T. levantis''), but is genetically closer to Père David's mole (''T. david ...

(''T. talyschensis'') was formerly considered conspecific, but more recent studies have found it to be distinct.

References

Talpa Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Mammals described in 1906 Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas Mammals of Turkey Mammals of Azerbaijan Mammals of Russia Fauna of Armenia Fauna of Georgia (country) Mammals of the Middle East {{soricomorpha-stub