| Coast mole | |
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Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Eulipotyphla |
| Family: | Talpidae |
| Genus: | Scapanus |
| Species: | S. orarius |
| Binomial name | |
| Scapanus orarius (True, 1896) | |
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| Coast Mole range | |
The coast mole or Pacific mole (Scapanus orarius) is a medium-sized North American mole found in forested and open areas with moist soils along the Pacific coast from southwestern British Columbia to northwestern California.
Two subspecies are recognized: the nominate, S. o. orarius, and Scheffer's coast mole, S. o. schefferi. [2] The nominate has a shorter skull and less enlarged maxillary region. [3] The patterns of teeth shearing on dirt and earthworms (their main diet) set both subspecies apart from similar species. [3] [4]
The coast mole is generally less than 200 mm long, with the tail being one-fourth of its total length. The fur is uniformly black. The skull is relatively narrow and long, with a sublacrimal-maxillary ridge that is underdeveloped. Teeth are uncrowned and evenly spaced. [3]
The coast mole has a disjunct distribution, occurring from the western end of British Columbia, Canada through the western regions of Oregon and Washington, and in some parts of Northern California (coastal regions). The most extreme divergence of range for the coast mole has been seen to reach some parts of west-central Idaho. The species has a primarily fossorial lifestyle, but is not restricted solely to underground habitats. Like many other species of moles, it is capable of surfacing for scavenging purposes and juvenile dispersals, especially in the summer months. It may inhabit, but is not restricted to, agricultural land, sand dunes, grassy-meadows, sagebrush, deciduous forest, and pine forests (yellow-pine, Douglas fir, spruce, hemlock, and redwood). [3]
Coast moles eat insects and other small invertebrates including earthworms, which it hunts in moderately moist soil environments. Coast moles will increase their digging activity when they sense shifting densities of earthworms. Food items found in coast mole stomachs included earthworms (the majority by mass), slugs, earthworm eggs, and larval and adult insects. [3] [4]
The coast mole is primarily solitary and only become social during mating season. Coast mole populations and their corresponding tunnel systems seem to be larger in areas with damp soil and high earthworm densities. Coast moles are primarily nocturnal, but do not confine their activities to any specific part of the night. It has been found that an individual mole's activities tend to be asynchronous to those of neighboring moles. [3]
Mating usually occurs in period from late January and early March. During this time, coast moles will diverge from their normal solitary lifestyles and begin expanding their tunnel systems, even venturing into other coast mole tunnel systems in attempts to find a mating partner. [3] Little is known about their gestation and nursing behavior. Females produce a single litter per year, and maternal care is limited. Coast mole offspring can become reproductively active within nine to ten months of birth. [3]
Coast moles primarily use their noses for sensing their surroundings underground. Eimer's organ is a small, densely innervated sensory structure found in the nose of most talpid moles, including the coast mole, which seems to play a critical role in tactile discrimination and enables it to differentiate between prey items in an environment with little to no visual input. Moles and monotremes appear to have developed this as a convergent structure, using common components of mammalian skin to maximize tactile sensitivity. [5]
Air supply in coast mole tunnels may be short on oxygen, but enriched with carbon dioxide from respiration. [6] One adaptation to these environmental challenges is an increased blood volume for oxygen storage. Another is a modified hemoglobin, found in the coast mole and the eastern mole, that allows for heightened Cl- ion binding activity that is not affected by the relatively cold temperatures of mole tunnels. [7]
The species has been classified as Least Concern by the IUCN, since it appears to be common in a wide variety of habitats throughout its range. [1]
Moles are small mammals adapted to a subterranean lifestyle. They have cylindrical bodies, velvety fur, very small, inconspicuous eyes and ears, reduced hindlimbs, and short, powerful forelimbs with large paws adapted for digging.
The family Talpidae includes the moles who are small insectivorous mammals of the order Eulipotyphla. Talpids are all digging animals to various degrees: moles are completely subterranean animals; shrew moles and shrew-like moles somewhat less so; and desmans, while basically aquatic, excavate dry sleeping chambers; whilst the quite unique star-nosed mole is equally adept in the water and underground. Talpids are found across the Northern Hemisphere of Eurasia and North America, and range as far south as the montane regions of tropical Southeast Asia.
The European mole is a mammal of the order Eulipotyphla. It is also known as the common mole and the northern mole.
The star-nosed mole is a small semiaquatic mole found in moist, low elevation areas in the northern parts of North America. It is the only extant member of the tribe Condylurini and genus Condylura, and it has more than 25,000 minute sensory receptors in touch organs, known as Eimer's organs, with which this hamster-sized mole feels its way around. With the help of its Eimer's organs, it may be perfectly poised to detect seismic wave vibrations.
The smoky shrew is a medium-sized North American shrew found in eastern Canada and the northeastern United States and extends further south along the Appalachian Mountains.
The American shrew mole is the smallest species of mole. It is the only living member of the genus Neurotrichus and the tribe Neurotrichini. It is also known as Gibb's shrew mole and least shrew mole. It is not closely related to the Asian shrew mole. The reason that it is called a "shrew mole" instead of being called either a "shrew" or a "mole" is because of its fur, which is a characteristic of shrews and its large head and heavy dentition, which is characteristic of moles.
The eastern mole or common mole is a medium-sized North American mole. It is the only member of genus Scalopus. It is found in forested and open areas with moist sandy soils in northern Mexico, the eastern United States and the southwestern corner of Ontario in Canada.
The hairy-tailed mole, also known as Brewer's mole, is a medium-sized North American mole. It is the only member of the genus Parascalops. The species epithet breweri refers to Thomas Mayo Brewer, an American naturalist.
The Townsend's mole is a fossorial mammal in the family Talpidae, and is the largest North American mole. It was named after the American naturalist John Kirk Townsend. The name was selected at the request of Thomas Nuttall as a patronym to honor Townsend's contribution.
Diadophis punctatus, commonly known as the ring-necked snake or ringneck snake, is a harmless species of colubrid snake found throughout much of the United States, central Mexico, and south-eastern Canada. Ring-necked snakes are secretive, nocturnal snakes, so are rarely seen during the day time. They are best known for their unique defense posture of curling up their tails, exposing their bright red-orange posterior, ventral surface when threatened.
The Damaraland mole-rat, Damara mole rat or Damaraland blesmol, is a burrowing rodent found in southern Africa. Along with the smaller, less hairy, naked mole rat, it is a species of eusocial mammal.
Boulengerula taitana is a species of caecilian. It is endemic to the Taita Hills region of southeast Kenya. Boulengerula taitana are unique caecilians in appearance, fertilization type, and parental care. From their similar shape and presentation to worms, and their internalized fertilization, they set themselves apart from many other amphibians. D. taitana interactions between mothers and newly hatched young is unique in that the mother uses her own skin as a food resource for offspring. This species also has physiological adaptations in place to increase oxygen uptake and affinity to fit their underground lifestyle. The Boulengerula taitana differentiates itself from its close relatives in ways rarely documented and researched before.
The Cape mole-rat is a species of mole-rat endemic to South Africa. It is the only extant species currently described as belonging to the genus Georychus.
Amblysomus is a genus of the golden mole family, Chrysochloridae, comprising five species of the small, insect-eating, burrowing mammals endemic to Southern Africa. All five species can be found in South Africa and some are also found in Eswatini and Lesotho.
The Hottentot golden mole is a species of mammal in the golden mole family, Chrysochloridae. It is found in South Africa, Eswatini, and possibly Lesotho. Its natural habitats are temperate forests, subtropical or tropical dry and moist lowland forest and dry shrubland and grassland, Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation, savanna, temperate grassland, sandy shores, arable land, pastureland, plantations, rural gardens, and urban areas.
Sclater's golden mole is a species of mammal in the family Chrysochloridae. It is found in Lesotho and South Africa. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry and high-altitude shrubland, Mediterranean-type shrubby vegetation, temperate grassland, arable land, pastureland, rural gardens, and urban areas. This species is locally common, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed its conservation status as being of "least concern".
The northern broad-footed mole is a species of mammal in the family Talpidae. It is endemic to the United States, where it is found in northern California, Nevada and Oregon at elevations up to 9,800 feet (3,000 m) above sea level.
Eimer's organs are sensory organs in which the epidermis is modified to form bulbous papillae. First isolated by Theodor Eimer from the European mole in 1871, these organs are present in many moles, and are particularly common in the star-nosed mole, which bears 25,000 of them on its unique tentacled snout. The organs are formed from a stack of epidermal cells, which is innervated by nerve processes from myelinated fibers in the dermis, which form terminal swellings just below the outer keratinized layer of epidermis. They contain a Merkel cell-neurite complex in the epidermis and a lamellated corpuscle in the dermal connective tissue.
An earthworm is a soil-dwelling terrestrial invertebrate that belongs to the phylum Annelida. The term is the common name for the largest members of the class Oligochaeta. In classical systems, they were in the order of Opisthopora since the male pores opened posterior to the female pores, although the internal male segments are anterior to the female. Theoretical cladistic studies have placed them in the suborder Lumbricina of the order Haplotaxida, but this may change. Other slang names for earthworms include "dew-worm", "rainworm", "nightcrawler", and "angleworm". Larger terrestrial earthworms are also called megadriles as opposed to the microdriles in the semiaquatic families Tubificidae, Lumbricidae and Enchytraeidae. The megadriles are characterized by a distinct clitellum and a vascular system with true capillaries.
There are at least 9 large terrestrial mammals, 50 small mammals, and 14 marine mammal species known to occur in Olympic National Park.
| Authority control databases: National |
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