Martino's mole (''Talpa martinorum'') is a species of small blind

mole Mole (or Molé) may refer to: Animals * Mole (animal) or "true mole", mammals in the family Talpidae, found in Eurasia and North America * Golden moles, southern African mammals in the family Chrysochloridae, similar to but unrelated to Talpida ...

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 ...

found in eastern Thrace along the western

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...

coast in south-eastern

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

and north-eastern

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 ...

, mainly in the

Strandzha Strandzha ( bg, Странджа, also transliterated as ''Strandja'', ; tr, Istranca , or ) is a mountain massif in southeastern Bulgaria and the European part of Turkey. It is in the southeastern part of the Balkans between the plains of T ...

mountain range. In Bulgaria it is found in

Strandzha Nature Park Strandzha Nature Park ( bg, Природен парк Странджа ''Priroden park Strandzha'', also transliterated as Stranja Nature Park) is the List of protected areas of Bulgaria, largest protected area in Bulgaria spanning a territory o ...

Taxonomy

Individuals of this species were formerly classified as '' T. caeca'' or '' T. levantis'' until being classified as a new species. ''T. martinorum'' is not closely related to the other ''Talpa'' endemic to the Balkans, '' T. stankovici.'' Rather, it is most closely related to the widespread ''T. europaea'' as well as '' T. aquitania'', and '' T. occidentalis,'' both of which are endemic to western Europe''.'' Based on this, ''T. martinorum'' likely originated from an isolated population of a mole species that was also ancestral to ''T. europaea'', as is also considered to be the case for the origin of ''T. aquitania'' and ''T. occidentalis''. Fossil evidence shows that a mole species similar to the present ''T. martinorum'' lived in the region during the Pliocene, indicating that ''T. martinorum'' has persisted in its current territory for a long time.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q56192600 Talpa Mammals described in 2018 Fauna of Bulgaria Fauna of Turkey