The Mexican mole (''Scapanus anthonyi'') is a
species
A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...
of
mammal
A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three ...
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
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
Baja California
Baja California, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California, is a state in Mexico. It is the northwesternmost of the 32 federal entities of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1952, the area was known as the North Territory of B ...
in
Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
, where it is restricted to the highlands of the
Sierra de San Pedro Mártir mountain range. Its
specific epithet
In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...
references naturalist
Alfred Webster Anthony.
It was previously thought to be a subspecies of the
broad-footed mole (''S. latimanus'', but has now been split into two different species, of which the southern taxon is ''
S. occultus''), but it was split as a distinct species in a 2005 study.
In 2021, a phylogenetic analysis confirmed its distinctiveness and found it to be the most
basal member of the genus ''
Scapanus
''Scapanus'' is a genus of moles in the family Talpidae. They live in North America from west of the Rockies south to Baja California del Norte, and north to British Columbia, wherever conditions permit a mole population; that is to say, apart ...
''.
This species inhabits the
Sierra Juárez and San Pedro Mártir pine–oak forests ecoregion. Although its habitat is protected, large amounts of
cattle
Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are calle ...
graze in the area and destroy mole galleries.
References
Scapanus
Endemic mammals of Mexico
Endemic fauna of the Baja California Peninsula
Mammals described in 1893
Taxa named by Joel Asaph Allen
{{Talpidae-stub