| Aquitanian mole | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Eulipotyphla |
| Family: | Talpidae |
| Genus: | Talpa |
| Species: | T. aquitania |
| Binomial name | |
| Talpa aquitania Nicolas, Martínez-Vargas, & Hugot, 2017 | |
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| Aquitanian mole range | |
TheAquitanian mole (Talpa aquitania) is a species of small burrowing mammal of the familyTalpidae. It is found from the southwest ofFrance to the north ofSpain. Closely related to theEuropean mole (T. europaea), this species was described in 2017,[1] and it is difficult to distinguish the two species.
This species was described in 2017 by zoologistsViolaine Nicolas,Jessica Martínez-Vargas andJean-Pierre Hugot.[1][2]
Its specific epithet,aquitania, means "Aquitaine", a former French region which is part ofNouvelle-Aquitaine, where it is most abundant.[1]
It ranges from the southwestern region ofFrance to the north ofSpain. It is mainly distributed south and west of theLoire River, with the inverse being true for the European mole; however, this is not a strict barrier, as specimens of both species have been caught on opposite sides of the river from their main distribution, and thus they are likelysympatric in some areas.[3]
The Aquitanian mole is very similar to theEuropean mole, a mole with a much wider range. It can be distinguished unambiguously from the European mole and theSpanish mole (T. occidentalis) by the combination of the following characters:[1]
In addition, there are differences from these two species: