The Ngoc Linh mole (''Euroscaptor ngoclinhensis'') 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

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to central

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

. It was named after

Ngọc Linh Ngọc Linh (a Sino-Vietnamese name meaning "Jade Mountain") is a mountain of the Annamite Range in Vietnam. It straddles the two provinces of Quảng Nam and Kon Tum. It is considered "the roof of Southern Vietnam". ''Panax vietnamensis'' ( v ...

mountain, which it was first discovered in the vicinity of.

Taxonomy

''E. ngoclinhensis'' was described in 2016 as a

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 ...

of the small-toothed mole (''E. parvidens''), with several anatomical differences distinguishing it from the nominate subspecies. However, a 2020 study found prominent differences in overall size and proportions between ''ngoclinhensis'' and ''parvidens

sensu stricto ''Sensu'' is a Latin word meaning "in the sense of". It is used in a number of fields including biology, geology, linguistics, semiotics, and law. Commonly it refers to how strictly or loosely an expression is used in describing any particular co ...

'', and thus split ''E. ngoclinhensis'' as its own distinct species. ''E. ngoclinhensis'' is thought to have split from ''E. parvidens'' during the late

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...

, about 4.6 to 2.0 million years ago.

Distribution

This species is thought to be

to the Central Highlands of

, in

Kon Tum Kon Tum is the capital city of Kon Tum Province in Vietnam. It is located inland in the Central Highlands region of Vietnam, near the borders of Laos and Cambodia. History After the People's Army of Vietnam invaded South Vietnam on March 30, 1 ...

and Quang Nam provinces. Moles from Gia Lai Province may also belong to this species.

Description

This is a small-sized mole only comparable to the Vietnamese mole (''E. subanura'') in size. It has a bulb-shaped tail and a long and moderately wide

rostrum Rostrum may refer to: * Any kind of a platform for a speaker: **dais **pulpit * Rostrum (anatomy), a beak, or anatomical structure resembling a beak, as in the mouthparts of many sucking insects * Rostrum (ship), a form of bow on naval ships * Ros ...

. It has a smaller body & skull size and shorter upper & lower tooth rows than ''E. parvidens''.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q104903431 Euroscaptor Mammals of Vietnam Endemic fauna of Vietnam Mammals described in 2016