The southern broad-footed mole (''Scapanus occultus'') is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of mammal 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 ...

. It is found only in the

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

state of

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

and northernmost

Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Taxonomy

It was formerly considered a subspecies of the

northern broad-footed mole The northern broad-footed mole (''Scapanus latimanus'') is a species of mammal in the family Talpidae. It is endemic to the United States, where it is found in northern California, Nevada and Oregon at elevations up to 3000 m above sea leve ...

(''S. latimanus''), with the combined species being known as the broad-footed mole, but a 2021 study found sufficient anatomical and genetic divergence to split both as distinct species. The

Mexican mole The Mexican mole (''Scapanus anthonyi'') is a species of mammal in the family Talpidae. It is endemic to Baja California in Mexico, where it is restricted to the highlands of the Sierra de San Pedro Mártir mountain range. Its specific epithet ...

(''S. anthonyi'') was formerly thought to be a subspecies of the broad-footed mole but is now also considered a distinct species.

Distribution

It ranges from the throughout the southern Sierra Nevada and most of

southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban a ...

from

San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo (; Spanish for " St. Louis the Bishop", ; Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, in the U.S. state of California. Located on the Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly hal ...

south to the U.S.-Mexico border, and along the Peninsular Ranges into northernmost Baja California. In the two areas where ''S. occultus'' and ''S. latimanus'' are sympatric (a portion of the southern Sierra Nevada and the northern portion of Santa Barbara), ''S. occultus'' inhabits lower altitudes and ''S. latimanus'' inhabits higher ones.

Description

''S. occultus'' is overall smaller in body size than ''S. latimanus'', and has a longer and wider skull''.''

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q109371478 Scapanus Mammals of the United States Mammals of Mexico Fauna of the Baja California Peninsula Mammals described in 1912 Taxa named by Joseph Grinnell