Mehely's blind mole-rat (''Spalax antiquus'') is an
endangered
An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...
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
rodent
Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the Order (biology), order Rodentia ( ), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and Mandible, lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal specie ...
in the family
Spalacidae
The Spalacidae, or spalacids, are a family of rodents in the large and complex superfamily Muroidea. They are native to eastern Asia, the Horn of Africa, the Middle East, and southeastern Europe. It includes the blind mole-rats, bamboo rats, m ...
. 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
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
.
Taxonomy
Previously described in 1909 by
Lajos Méhelÿ
Lajos Méhelÿ (August 24, 1862 – February 4, 1953) was a Hungarian zoologist, herpetologist, professor, and author. He remains controversial due to his Social Darwinist and racialist publications. He was a member of the Hungarian Academy of Sc ...
as a subspecies of the
Balkan mole-rat
The Bukovina blind mole-rat or (erroneously) the Balkan blind mole-rat (''Spalax graecus'') is a species of rodent in the family Spalacidae found in Romania, Moldova, and Ukraine.
Taxonomy
The specific epithet ''graecus'', as well as the re ...
(''S. graecus''), a 2013 morphological and phylogenetic analysis found it and the
Oltenia blind mole-rat
The Oltenia blind mole-rat (''Spalax istricus'') is a critically endangered, possibly extinct species of rodent in the family Spalacidae. It is endemic to Romania.
Taxonomy
Previously described in 1909 by Lajos Méhelÿ as a subspecies of the ...
(''S. istricus'') to be distinct, well-defined species. It is thought to be the
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 ''S. graecus'', and it is thought that the
Carpathian Orogeny led to the separation of both species.
The
American Society of Mammalogists The American Society of Mammalogists (ASM) was founded in 1919. Its primary purpose is to encourage the study of mammal
A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence ...
and
IUCN Red List
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological ...
follow the results of this study.
Distribution and habitat
This species is restricted to central
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
, where it is thought to be an endemic species of the
Carpathian Basin
The Pannonian Basin, with the term Carpathian Basin being sometimes preferred in Hungarian literature, is a large sedimentary basin situated in southeastern Central Europe. After the Treaty of Trianon following World War I, the geomorphologic ...
. It inhabits
steppe
In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without closed forests except near rivers and lakes.
Steppe biomes may include:
* the montane grasslands and shrublands biome
* the tropical and subtropica ...
and forest-steppe grasslands on the
Transylvanian Plain
The Transylvanian Plain (; , ) is an ethnogeographical area in Transylvania, Romania, located between the Someșul Mare and the Someșul Mic rivers to the north and west and the Mureș River Mureș may refer to:
* Mureș County, Romania
* Mure ...
. Its habitats are largely used as
pasture
Pasture (from the Latin ''pastus'', past participle of ''pascere'', "to feed") is land used for grazing.
Types of pasture
Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, c ...
land, although it avoids overgrazed pastures.
Status
This species has suffered a heavy decline in recent decades, and is classified as an
endangered species
An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching, inv ...
by the IUCN Red List. It is thought to number between 3,550 and 3,800 mature individuals, and may have been extirpated from the southern and southeastern regions of the Transylvanian Plain.
The primary threat to this species are the different factors leading to
habitat loss
Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss or habitat reduction) occurs when a natural habitat is no longer able to support its native species. The organisms once living there have either moved elsewhere, or are dead, leading to a decrease ...
; most populations only survive in suboptimal habitat due as the heavy cultivation of the most favorable habitats, which are fertile
loess
A loess (, ; from ) is a clastic rock, clastic, predominantly silt-sized sediment that is formed by the accumulation of wind-blown dust. Ten percent of Earth's land area is covered by loesses or similar deposition (geology), deposits.
A loess ...
soils. The most important factor leading to its decline is deep
tillage
Tillage is the agriculture, agricultural preparation of soil by mechanical wikt:agitation#Noun, agitation of various types, such as digging, stirring, and overturning. Examples of manual labour, human-powered tilling methods using hand tools inc ...
, which prevents the formation of suitable vegetation types and destroys the burrows of this species. In addition, this species is threatened by development and
overgrazing
Overgrazing occurs when plants are exposed to intensive grazing for extended periods of time, or without sufficient recovery periods. It can be caused by either livestock in poorly managed agricultural applications, game reserves, or nature ...
of its habitats.
Climate change
Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...
may also affect this species, as genetic and fossil evidence indicates that blind mole-rats were historically sensitive to climate fluctuations (prior fluctuations spurred diversification rather than extinction among mole-rats, but there are little to no dispersal capabilities left for mole-rats in the modern day in order to adapt to ongoing changes), but the extent and direction of this impact remains uncertain.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q42900902
Spalax
Rodents of Europe
Endangered biota of Europe
Endemic fauna of Romania
Mammals described in 1909
Taxa named by Lajos Méhelÿ