La Touche's mole (''Mogera latouchei'') is a species of mammal in the family

Talpidae The family (biology), family Talpidae () includes the true Mole (animal), moles (as well as the shrew moles and desmans) who are small insectivore, insectivorous mammals of the order (biology), order Eulipotyphla. Talpids are all fossorial, diggi ...

. It is found in eastern

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

and parts of northern

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

. It is named after Irish naturalist John David Digues La Touche. It was formerly considered a subspecies of the insular mole (''M. insularis'') of

Hainan Island Hainan is an island province and the southernmost province of China. It consists of the eponymous Hainan Island and various smaller islands in the South China Sea under the province's administration. The name literally means "South of the Sea ...

and eastern

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 ...

(or alternatively just eastern Taiwan), but a 2007 genetic analysis found both species to be distinct from one another. Phylogenetic analysis indicates that ''M. latouchei'' is a

sister species In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and ...

to a

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

comprising the 2-3 island-endemic ''Mogera'' species from China and Taiwan (''M. insularis'', ''M. kanoana'', and ''M. hainana'' if the latter is considered distinct from ''insularis''). Diagnostic characteristics of the species are its small size, dark fur, and wide auditory opening in the skull, the latter of which is distinct from any other '' Mogera'' species. Specimens of ''M. latouchei'' from Vietnam and China have similar skeletal characteristics, but Vietnamese populations are thought to be larger and have a more robust skull; this could potentially indicate the presence of a

cryptic species In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

within the ''M. latouchei'' lineage In Vietnam, ''M. latouchei'' has a peripatric distribution with respect to the long-nosed mole (''Euroscaptor longirostris''), with La Touche's mole being found at low elevations from 600 to 800 meters, including in farmland, and the long-nosed mole only being found above 800 meters. This indicates that both species may be competitors with one another.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q41084981 Mogera Mammals of China Mammals of Vietnam Mammals described in 1907 Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas