The long-tailed mole (''Scaptonyx fusicauda'') is a species of mole in the 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 ...

. It is found in China,

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making it ...

and

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

Taxonomy

The species is the only species in the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

''Scaptonyx'' and the tribe Scaptonychini. At least two subspecies are recognized in China: ''S. f. affinis'' occurs in Yunnan and Guizhou, ''S. f. fusicauda'' in Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Guizhou.

Ecology

This mole is fully

fossorial A fossorial () animal is one adapted to digging which lives primarily, but not solely, underground. Some examples are badgers, naked mole-rats, clams, meerkats, and mole salamanders, as well as many beetles, wasps, and bees. Prehistoric e ...

and spends its life underground. It has been found at relatively high elevations of 2,000-4,100 m and appears to prefer damp, coniferous montane forests.

References

Talpidae Mammals of Myanmar Mammals of China Mammals of Vietnam Mammals described in 1872 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN {{soricomorpha-stub