The Bukovina blind mole-rat or (erroneously) the Balkan blind mole-rat (''Spalax graecus'') is a species 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 lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are roden ...

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, ...

found in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, a ...

Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The unrecognised state of Transnist ...

, and

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian invas ...

Taxonomy

The specific epithet ''graecus'', as well as the reference to the

Balkans The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

in its former scientific name, both derive from the

type specimen In biology, a type is a particular specimen (or in some cases a group of specimens) of an organism to which the scientific name of that organism is formally attached. In other words, a type is an example that serves to anchor or centralizes the ...

, which was initially thought to have been collected in the vicinity of

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh List ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wit ...

. However, in 1969 this was found to be erroneous, and the type locality was corrected to the vicinity of

Chernovtsy Chernivtsi ( uk, Чернівці́}, ; ro, Cernăuți, ; see also other names) is a city in the historical region of Bukovina, which is now divided along the borders of Romania and Ukraine, including this city, which is situated on the upp ...

, Ukraine. Formerly, this species was thought to comprise three disjunct subspecies: the type subspecies ''graecus'', inhabiting northern Romania, Moldova, and southwestern Ukraine,

Mehely's blind mole-rat Mehely's blind mole-rat (''Spalax antiquus'') is an endangered 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 Balkan mole-rat (''S. graecus'' ...

(subspecies ''antiquus''), thought to be

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found 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 found els ...

to central Romania, and the possibly extinct Oltenia blind mole-rat (subspecies ''istricus''), thought to be endemic to southern Romania. However, a 2013 morphological and phylogenetic analysis found ''antiquus'' and ''istricus'' to represent distinct species from ''graecus''. The

American Society of Mammalogists The American Society of Mammalogists (ASM) was founded in 1919. Its primary purpose is to encourage the study of mammals, and professions studying them. There are over 4,500 members of this society, and they are primarily professional scientists ...

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 the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...

followed the results of this study. This leaves S. ''graecus'' with a much smaller distribution than it was previously thought to have.

Description

The organism can be described as having a long, cylindrical body with no neck and relatively weak limbs. The Bukovina mole rats are blind and do not possess any external ears.Chişamera, G., Bužan, E. V., Sahlean, T., Murariu, D., Zupan, S., & Kryštufek, B. (2013). Bukovina blind mole rat Spalax graecus revisited: Phylogenetics, morphology, taxonomy, Habitat Associations and conservation. Mammal Review, 44(1), 19–29. https://doi.org/10.1111/mam.12001

Distribution and habitat

This species is found in a small area of northeastern

, southwestern

, and northwestern

. Part of its range roughly coincides with the historical region of

Bukovina Bukovinagerman: Bukowina or ; hu, Bukovina; pl, Bukowina; ro, Bucovina; uk, Буковина, ; see also other languages. is a historical region, variously described as part of either Central or Eastern Europe (or both).Klaus Peter Berge ...

. It inhabits

steppe In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes. Steppe biomes may include: * the montane grasslands and shrublands biome * the temperate grasslan ...

, pastures, cultivated fields, and orchards.

Threats

This species is thought to be threatened by

intensive agriculture Intensive agriculture, also known as intensive farming (as opposed to extensive farming), conventional, or industrial agriculture, is a type of agriculture, both of crop plants and of animals, with higher levels of input and output per unit of ag ...

, which has been implicated in the decline of the sympatric

lesser blind mole-rat The lesser blind mole-rat (''Spalax leucodon'') is a species of rodent in the family Spalacidae. It is found in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, Turkey and Ukraine. Prior to 201 ...

(''Nannospalax leucodon'') in the same region. In

Transylvania Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the ...

, subsistence agriculture is still practiced, and thus the population appears stable there, but the addition of Romania to the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been ...

in the

2007 enlargement of the European Union On 1 January 2007, Bulgaria and Romania became member states of the European Union (EU) in the fifth wave of EU enlargement. Negotiations Romania was the first country of post-communist Europe to have official relations with the European Com ...

may spur further intensive agriculture within its habitat.

References

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q851747 Spalax Rodents of Europe Mammals described in 1898 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot