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Insectivora, Talpidae) Mammal Study 30: S5–S11 (2005) © the Mammalogical Society of Japan The historical notes and taxonomic problems of East Asian moles, Euroscaptor, Parascaptor and Scaptochirus, of continental Asia (Insectivora, Talpidae) Shin-ichiro Kawada Department of Zoology, National Science Museum, Tokyo, 3-23-1, Hyakunin-cho, Shinjuku, Tokyo 169-0073, Japan Abstract. The taxonomy of the East Asian moles of genera Euroscaptor, Parascaptor and Scaptochirus, distributing in the Himalayas to China were controversial both in the generic and specific levels. These genera were named as more than ten species since the beginning of the description by Brian Houghton Hodgson in 1841. Several explorers had the expedition to this area and brought the specimens of these moles to European and American Museums and named them. One of the purpose of this paper is to review the historical note on the discoveries of Asian mole species as the compass to situate the taxonomic problem of these moles. As a matter of taxonomic evaluation, the problem of the usage of dental formula as the generic diagnosis is discussed in the reference of the examples of recent taxonomic works. Distribution of these East Asian talpids are scattered in the mountain regions like plot according from the collecting records by museums. Current museum collections are not enough to examine their local and individual variations. Therefore, active collecting in the future works will enable the reevaluation of taxonomic and phylogenetic relationships through comprehensive studies of morphology, karyology and molecular phylogeny. Key words: biography, dental formula, Euroscaptor, Parascaptor, Scaptochirus, taxonomic revision. Family Talpidae is distributing only in four separated lected so far by the museum collectors. In addition, the areas of the Northern hemisphere, Europe to Siberia, morphology of the moles are generally variable from Eastern Asia from Himalaya to Japan, Western coast of locality to locality, thus if a few specimens have col- North America and eastern half of North America. lected, it is fundamentally difficult to identify the species Among these regions, East Asian Talpidae constructs name of them from the comparison with type series. very diverse fauna comprised by seven genera, including Furthermore most type specimens in the museums were terrestrial Asiatic shrew moles, semi-fossorial shrew- partially destroyed, and makes it difficult for compara- moles and highly fossorial moles. Most of them are con- tive numerical studies. fined to the temperate habitat of mountains, but also In contrast, many studies on the taxonomic reassess- inhabit to high elevation in nearly equatorial region of ment of the moles distributing in and around Japanese Peninsular Malaysia. Islands, genus Mogera, have conducted by Japanese Besides great efforts to reconstruct the taxonomic rela- researchers in these five decades (Imaizumi 1960; Abe tionships of Talpidae, the moles from East Asian region 1967; Tsuchiya 1985, 1988; Yoshiyuki and Imaizumi have intriguing difficulty for the species identification 1991; Okamoto 1999; Tsuchiya et al. 2000; Kawada et and the application of the scientific name. In this area, al. 2001). These studies were achieved by the continu- most of the mole’s habitats are restricted to the high ous field works and several technical approaches, such as montane region because they are fit to the temperate morphology, karyology and molecular phylogeny. One climate. This partially explains why such confused situ- of the next targets is to be continental Asian group, ation of moles occurred, i.e. a few specimens were col- genera Euroscaptor, Parascaptor and Scaptochirus. E-mail: [email protected] S6 Mammal Study 30 (2005) In this review, I will try to discuss the reason why such visit in China since 1862 (when the year Ed. Blyth went confusable situation of mole’s taxonomy is sustained. back to his mother country) to 1874 (Morris and Morris First, we can review the history of the discovery of Asian 1966). He was also excellent zoologist and a friend moles. of the director in Musée d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, Alphonse Milne-Edwards. In this period, the first com- The history of discoveries and some notes on prehensive taxonomic work of mammals in China was East Asian moles conducted by the David’s special curiosity to natural history. For a few years, David stayed around Beijin The dawn of Asian mole description was staged in the (Pekin) and inner Mongolia and collected and sent the Himalaya region. The first description of the mole in mole specimens to Paris. Milne-Edwards examined the Asia is owed to English naturalist, Brian Houghton short-faced mole from Swanhwafu of inner Mongolia Hodgson. He lived in Nepal and Darjeeling since 1820 and soon understood this was a clearly distinct genus to 1858, and described two species of moles, Talpa characterized by small number of teeth and extraordi- micrura and T. macrura, in 1841 and 1858, respectively nary large molars. Now we know this strange mole (Waterhouse 2004). Talpa micrura was distinct in its as Scaptochirus moschatus Milne-Edwards 1867 (see very short tail length with less hair from the European Milne-Edwards and Milne-Edwards 1868–1874) as a nominal species, T. europaea. Another English natural- relative to genus Parascaptor (Stroganov 1948). ist Edward Blyth was arrived at Calcutta in 1841 to The tale of A. David is better known by the next spend his life in Asia partly for recuperation until 1862 exploration in Sichuan Province bound to Tibet of west- (Eiseley 1979). He found the mole from Darjiling ern China. He collected many mammalian specimens, having a shorter tail than T. micrura (T. microura in representative of the giant panda, in this great montane Blyth 1850), which is hidden almost under their fur, and zone. In addition his achievement is also important in named this as Talpa cryptura Blyth, 1843 (Journal of small mammals, especially in Insectivora. He found five Asiatic Society of Bengal 12, 928). After that, when he new shrews, and a shrew-mole, which was then only described another species T. leucura, he noted that T. known from Japan by Philip Franz von Siebold. Milne- cryptura has no distinctive characters except for shorter Edwards named the Chinese shrew-mole (or the long tail than T. micrura (Blyth 1850). Later taxonomic tailed mole) as Scaptonyx fusicaudus. Another new tal- reviews recognized T. cryptura as a junior synonym of pid animal that he found was completely unknown in the T. micrura (Dobson 1883; Stroganov 1948). world, which external morphology was quite similar to Talpa leucura found by Ed. Blyth was described from shrew but carried talpid skull. Milne-Edwards in Paris Cherrapunji of Assam region, India (in Khashi Hills, compare their characters and described as Uropsilus where the border of present Bangladesh). This mole had soricipes, which taxonomic position was the intermedi- clear morphological characters distinct from T. micrura ate of shrew and shrew-mole. The mole, David found in and later considered as a distinct genus Parascaptor Gill, Moupin (present name: Baoxing County), is also distinct 1875, based on its dental formula; absence of upper first from any other species. This mole had very slender ros- premolar and very rudimentary lower second premolar. trum and named as T. longirostris by Milne-Edwards in B. H. Hodgson described fourth species from Sikkim 1870 (Milne-Edwards and Milne-Edwards 1868–1874). region of India in 1859, but the taxonomic status of After the beginning of 20th century, the Duke of this species, T. macrura, is controversial. Hodgson Bedford’s Zoological Exploration of Eastern Asia was described it as a new species on the basis of its long and planned, and several collectors at the head of Malcolm hairy tail, but no record was appeared after original Anderson visited in Japan and Asian countries. They sent description. Jerdon (1874) followed Hodgson’s idea many mammal specimens to Oldfield Thomas of British with no doubt, but Dobson (1883) considered this Museum. Thomas described many mammals in his species (and Japanese T. mizura) as T. europaea. Most series of papers, but it did not include the Indochinese of recent taxonomic reviews do not allow the name fauna. The discovery of a new mole species in this “macrura” and treat as a synonym of “micrura” or con- region was done with the help of Cecil Boden Kloss, the sider that the collecting locality is incorrect. director of Raffles Museum, Singapore. Thomas (1929) Second stage of mole exploration was opened in first mentioned the mole from Thailand (Siam). He men- China. Armand David was French missionary priest tioned that this mole was collected by “Messers. C. Kawada, History and taxonomy of East Asian moles S7 Boden Kloss and K. G. Gairdner” from “near Hue Nya Euroscaptor longirostris (Milne-Edwards, 1870) Pla, 10 miles N. W. of Raheng”. Raheng is present name Euroscaptor klossi (Thomas, 1929) as Tak. Kloss thought that the northern Thai mole Euroscaptor parvidens (Miller, 1940) collected from Chiang Mai in 1917 was Parascaptor Euroscaptor grandis Miller, 1940 leucura (Chasen and Kloss 1930), but he had observed Euroscaptor klossi malayana (Chasen, 1940) only its skin and then sent new specimen from Raheng to Thomas. Thomas examined this specimen and clarified The dental formula and taxonomic confusion three small premolars between canine and fourth pre- molar, i.e. Talpa dentition. He named this mole as Talpa Asian mole genera are basically classified by their klossi Thomas, 1924 based on the distinctions of any dental formulae. When and who this idea settled is other species described so far. unknown, but possibly this had already considered in With the discovery of the mole in Thailand, mole’s 1848 by Pomel described genus Mogera. Though Blyth, distribution was greatly widened to southward, also by who described Talpa leucura in 1850, noticed that this the expedition of Jean Delacour’s Asiatic expedition in mole had decreased dentition, he did not construct a new the Northern Vietnam and Laos, edited by Wilfred H.
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