Talpa davidiana
Creators: name: Mittermeier, Russell A.
name: Wilson, Don E.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Mammalia
Soricomorpha
Talpidae
Talpa
Talpa davidiana

description: 23. Pere David’s Mole <i>Talpa davidiana</i> <b>French:</b> Taupe de David / <b>German:</b> Pater-David-Maulwurf / <b>Spanish:</b> Topo del Padre David <b>Other common names:</b> Persian Mole <b>Taxonomy.</b> Scaptochirus davidianus Milne- Edwards, 1884, Meydanekbez, south-west of Gaziantep, Turkey. Talpa davidiana is in subgenus Talpa and davidiana species group. Because of its robust skull and high incidence of oligo- donties, 1. davidiana was described as a member of eastern Asiatic Scaptochirus and considered that way still in the 1980s. Pelvis has cecoidal morphology (fourth sacral foramen usually opens posteriorly) and therefore differs from the mogerid hip bone (fifth sacral foramen is closed posteriorly by bony anastomosis), which is typical of East Asian fossorial moles including the Chinese Scaptochirus moschatus. Molecular analysis retrieved ancient origin for the lineage with davidiana and talyschesis, which presumably separated from the other species of moles more than six million years ago. Talpa davidiana contains streeti and chthonia as synonyms. Monotypic. <b>Distribution.</b> S margin of Anatolian-Iranian high plateau in SC &amp; SE Turkey (Adana, Gaziantep, Bitlis, and Hakkari provinces) and NW Iran (Kordestan); disjunct distribution separated by gap c¢.450 km wide. A single mole humerus, found in owl pellets from Qala’at Salah ad Din (W Syria), most probably belongs to this species. <b>Descriptive notes.</b> Head-body 115-134 mm,tail 18-30 mm, hindfoot 17-8-21 mm; weight 42-80 g. The largest individuals occupy Hakkari and Iranian Kurdistan. Pere David’s Mole is similar to the Levant Mole (7. levantis) but is slightly larger and has shorter tail. Pelage is black, and rhinarium is pale. Skull is very robust, with broad rostrum that tappers more gradually toward tip than in other species of Talpa. Breadth over canines equals 14-9-17-3% of condylo-basal length (less than 14-5% in the Levant Mole). Molars of Pere David's Mole are robust, and I' is larger than posterior ones. Dental formula is I 3/2-3, C 1/1, P 3-4/2-4, M 3/3 (x2) = 38-44. Oligodonties are common and were found in six skulls of 15 examined. Small individuals are seemingly more prone to loosing teeth than are larger individuals. Chromosomal complement has 2n = 34, FN = 66, and FNa = 62. <b>Habitat.</b> Farmland and alpine meadows at elevations of 1575-2240 m. The Pere David’s Mole from Syria was found at elevations of ¢.430 m. <b>Food and Feeding.</b> No information. <b>Breeding.</b> No information. <b>Activity patterns.</b> Pere David's Mole burrowslike other species of Talpa, and excavated soil appears on the ground’s surface in characteristic molehills. <b>Movements, Home range and Social organization.</b> No information. <b>Status and Conservation.</b> Classified as Data Deficient on The IUCN Red List. Pere David's Mole is rare and little known. Historical distribution was more extensive along the Levant coast, reaching northern Israel in the Upper Pleistocene (reported as 71. chthonia). <b>Bibliography.</b> Bannikova, Zemlemerova, Colangelo et al. (2015), Bate (1937a, 1937b), Benda &amp; Obuch (2009), Dogramaci (1989a, 1989b), Kefelioglu &amp; Gengogdlu (1996), Krystufek &amp; Vohralik (2001), KryStufek, Spitzenberger &amp; Kefelioglu (2001), Krystufek, Vohralik &amp; Obuch (2009), Lay (1965), Sozen et al. (2012).
description: Published as part of <i>Russell A. Mittermeier &amp; Don E. Wilson, 2018, Talpidae, pp. 52-619 in Handbook of the Mammals of the World – Volume 8 Insectivores, Sloths and Colugos, Barcelona :Lynx Edicions</i> on page 609, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.6678191