The Levant mole (''Talpa levantis'') is a species 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 ...

Taxonomy and evolution

The Levant mole was first described as a subspecies of '' Talpa caeca'' by

Oldfield Thomas Michael Rogers Oldfield Thomas (21 February 1858 – 16 June 1929) was a British zoologist. Career Thomas worked at the Natural History Museum, London, Natural History Museum on mammals, describing about 2,000 new species and subspecies for ...

in 1906, and recognized as a full species in 1973 by Spitzenberg. Moles in the genus ''

Talpa Talpa may refer to: Places * Talpa, Iran, a village in Khuzestan Province, Iran * Talpa, Teleorman, a commune in Teleorman County, Romania * Talpa, a village in Cândeşti Commune, Botoşani County, Romania * Talpa, a village in Bârgăuani Co ...

'' are morphologically very similar to each other, which has made separating the species difficult before the wide availability of genetic analysis. The Talysch mole (''T. talyschensis'') was formerly considered a synonym of ''T. levantis'', but more recent studies have found it to be distinct. A 2020 taxonomic analysis found three distinct genetic populations in the western, central, and eastern ends of its range, and separated them into three subspecies: ''Talpa levantis dogramacii'' (newly named in this study, after Salih Doğramacı), ''T. l. levantis'', and ''T. l. transcaucasica''. Based on genetic data, recent studies, including Demırtaş et al (2020) and Gündüz et al. (2023) have separated the eastern subspecies of ''T. levantis'' as its own species, ''T. transcaucasica,'' the Transcaucasian mole. A fossil example of ''T. levantis'' is known from Yarimburgaz Cave in Turkey, dated to the

Middle Pleistocene The Chibanian, more widely known as the Middle Pleistocene (its previous informal name), is an Age (geology), age in the international geologic timescale or a Stage (stratigraphy), stage in chronostratigraphy, being a division of the Pleistocen ...

Description

The Levant mole is a small mole, to long. The eyes are covered with a layer of transparent skin, and the eyelids are permanently closed. Unlike other species in the genus, it has 38 pairs of chromosomes.

Distribution and habitat

The Levant mole lives in wet or damp soil, and can be found in both fields and forests. Including ''T. transcaucasica'', it is found in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Russia, and Turkey. If ''T. transcaucasica'''s separation is taken into account, then ''T. levantis'' 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 Turkey.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q605773 Talpa Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Mammals described in 1906 Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas Mammals of Turkey Mammals of Azerbaijan Mammals of Russia Fauna of Armenia Fauna of Georgia (country) Mammals of the Middle East