Kano's Mole
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Kano's mole (''Mogera kanoana'') is a species of
mole Mole (or Molé) may refer to: Animals * Mole (animal) or "true mole" * Golden mole, southern African mammals * Marsupial mole Marsupial moles, the Notoryctidae family, are two species of highly specialized marsupial mammals that are found i ...
endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only 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 foun ...
to
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
. The specific name ''kanoana'' is derived from Tadao Kano, a Japanese naturalist who made the first record of these animals in 1940s. It is found in the mountainous center and the lowlands of southern and eastern Taiwan. In contrast, the insular mole (''M. insularis''), the only other mole in Taiwan, is restricted to the western lowlands of the island. The existence of the species was first noted in 1936, when
Kyukichi Kishida was a Japanese zoologist, who published in arachnology, mammalogy, and herpetology. He described several spider Genus, genera and species including : * ''Heptathela'' ** ''Heptathela kimurai'' (Kimura-gumo) * ''Pireneitega'' References * ...
noted that two distinct forms of mole occurred in the lowlands and mountains of Taiwan, naming the mountain form ''yamazimogura''. Although Kishida's research was not fully accepted, Tadao Kano described the mountain species in 1940 as ''Mogera montana''; however, due to a lack of a type specimen and lack of sufficient detail in description, it was not accepted. From 2001 to 2003, biologists from Japan and Taiwan collected several specimens from across the island and confirmed the distinctiveness of this species.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kano's mole Mogera Mammals of Taiwan Endemic fauna of Taiwan Mammals described in 2007