''Talpa'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

in the

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 ...

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 ...

. Among the first taxa in science, Carolus Linnaeus used the Latin word for "moles", ''talpa'', in his Regnum Animale to refer to the commonly known European form of mole. The group has since been expanded to include 13 extant species, found primarily in Europe and western Asia. The

European mole The European mole (''Talpa europaea'') is a mammal of the order Eulipotyphla. It is also known as the common mole and the northern mole. This mole lives in a tunnel system, which it constantly extends. It uses these tunnels to hunt its prey. Un ...

, found throughout most of Europe, is a member of this genus, as are several species restricted to small ranges. One species,

Père David's mole Père David's mole (''Talpa davidiana'') is a mole found in the Middle East, ranging from south-central Turkey east to Kurdistan Province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country ...

, is

data deficient A data deficient (DD) species is one which has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as offering insufficient information for a proper assessment of conservation status to be made. This does not necessaril ...

. These moles eat

earthworm An earthworm is a terrestrial invertebrate that belongs to the phylum Annelida. They exhibit a tube-within-a-tube body plan; they are externally segmented with corresponding internal segmentation; and they usually have setae on all segments. Th ...

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...

s, and other

invertebrate Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...

s found in the soil. The females of this genus have rudimentary male features such as Cowper's glands and a two-lobed

prostate The prostate is both an Male accessory gland, accessory gland of the male reproductive system and a muscle-driven mechanical switch between urination and ejaculation. It is found only in some mammals. It differs between species anatomically, ...

. A group of scientists has suggested that they are true

hermaphrodites In reproductive biology, a hermaphrodite () is an organism that has both kinds of reproductive organs and can produce both gametes associated with male and female sexes. Many taxonomic groups of animals (mostly invertebrates) do not have separ ...

; however, others state that they are fully functional females. There are 13 species in this genus: * Altai mole, ''T. altaica'' *

Aquitanian mole The Aquitanian mole (''Talpa aquitania'') is a species of small burrowing mammal of the family Talpidae. It is found from the southwest of France to the north of Spain. Closely related to the European mole (''T. europaea''), this species was desc ...

, ''T. aquitania'' *

Blind mole The blind mole (''Talpa caeca''), also known as the Mediterranean mole, is a mole found in the Mediterranean region. It is similar to the European mole, differing most prominently in having eyes covered with skin. It is found in Albania, France, ...

, ''T. caeca'' *

Caucasian mole The Caucasian mole (''Talpa caucasica'') is a mammal in the family Talpidae that is endemic to the Caucasus Mountains of Russia and Georgia. Ognev's mole Ognev's mole (''Talpa ognevi'') is a species of mammal in the family Talpidae. It occ ...

, ''T. caucasica'' *

, ''T. davidiana'' *

, ''T. europaea'' *

Levant mole The Levant mole (''Talpa levantis'') is a species of mammal in the family Talpidae. It is found in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russia, and Turkey. There are two subspecies In biological classification, subspecies is a rank below species ...

, ''T. levantis'' *

Martino's mole Martino's mole (''Talpa martinorum'') is a species of small blind mole in the family Talpidae found in eastern Thrace along the western Black Sea coast in south-eastern Bulgaria and north-eastern Turkey, mainly in the Strandzha mountain range. In ...

, ''T. martinorum'' *

Spanish mole The Spanish mole (''Talpa occidentalis'') is a species of mammal in the family Talpidae. It is found in Spain and Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland i ...

, ''T. occidentalis'' *

Ognev's mole Ognev's mole (''Talpa ognevi'') is a species of mammal in the family Talpidae. It occurs in the southeastern coastal area of the Black Sea from northeastern Turkey to Georgia. It inhabits different habitats associated with moist soils in lowland ...

, ''T. ognevi'' *

Roman mole The Roman mole (''Talpa romana'') is a species of mammal in the family Talpidae. It is found in southern Italy. It was last recorded on Sicily in 1885. There is also an unconfirmed report about an isolated subpopulation in the Var region of sout ...

, ''T. romana'' *

Balkan mole The Balkan mole (''Talpa stankovici'') is a species of mammal in the family Talpidae. It is found in Montenegro, Albania, North Macedonia and Greece, including the island of Corfu. References Talpa Mammals of Europe Mammals described i ...

, ''T. stankovici'' *

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. da ...

, ''T. talyschensis'' In addition, one extinct species is known from

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

remains: the

Tyrrhenian mole The Tyrrhenian mole (''Talpa tyrrhenica'') is an extinct species of mammal in the family Talpidae. It was endemic to the Mediterranean islands of Corsica and Sardinia during the Pleistocene epoch. First described in 1945 by Dorothea Bate, this ...

(''Talpa tyrrhenica'') from the

Pleistocene 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 ...

Corsica Corsica ( , Upper , Southern ; it, Corsica; ; french: Corse ; lij, Còrsega; sc, Còssiga) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of ...

and

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...

. The current phylogeny of the species in the genus is shown below:

References

External links

Talpa Mammal genera Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{talpidae-stub