Talpa

Talpa is a genus in the mole family Talpidae. Among the first taxa in science, Carolus Linnaeus used the Latin word for "mole", talpa, in his Regnum Animale to refer to the commonly known European form of mole. The group has since been expanded to include 13 extant species, found primarily in Europe and western Asia. The European mole, found throughout most of Europe, is a member of this genus, as are several species restricted to small ranges. One species, Père David's mole, is data deficient. These moles eat earthworms, insects, and other invertebrates found in the soil.

Talpa

Didier Descouens · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
TalpidaePBDB
Diet
insectivorePBDB, for Talpidae
Life habit
fossorialPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 19 million years on record.

The record covers at least 20 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 23.04 Mya to 0 Mya.

Oligocene — about 0 of 245 occurrencesMiocene — about 45 of 245 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 33 of 245 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 166 of 245 occurrencesPleistocene24–23 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences23–22 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences20–20 Mya — about 1 occurrence20–19 Mya — about 1 occurrence19–18 Mya — about 1 occurrence18–17 Mya — about 1 occurrence17–16 Mya — about 1 occurrence16–16 Mya — about 1 occurrence16–15 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences15–14 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences14–13 Mya — about 1 occurrence13–13 Mya — about 2 occurrences13–12 Mya — about 4 occurrences12–11 Mya — about 3 occurrences11–10 Mya — about 2 occurrences10–9.4 Mya — about 3 occurrences9.4–8.6 Mya — about 4 occurrences8.6–7.8 Mya — about 5 occurrences7.8–7.1 Mya — about 2 occurrences7.1–6.3 Mya — about 4 occurrences6.3–5.5 Mya — about 4 occurrences5.5–4.7 Mya — about 6 occurrences4.7–3.9 Mya — about 7 occurrences3.9–3.1 Mya — about 11 occurrences3.1–2.4 Mya — about 19 occurrences2.4–1.6 Mya — about 30 occurrences1.6–785 ka Mya — about 25 occurrences785 ka–0 Mya — about 103 occurrences20 Mya11.7 ka23.5 Mya0 Mya

245 occurrences of Talpa on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

245 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

13 formations

facies à Congeria — 45.05°N, 7.93°ECromer Forest Bed — 52.94°N, 1.25°EReuver clay — 50.92°N, 6.82°EReuver clay — 50.90°N, 6.45°ERavin de Ratavoux — 43.78°N, 5.45°EKomnina — 40.43°N, 21.80°ELefkon — 41.17°N, 23.50°EPlatanochori — 40.57°N, 23.47°EKhapry — 47.24°N, 39.71°EMost — 50.42°N, 13.36°EStudienka — 48.20°N, 17.98°EEdelény — 48.39°N, 20.64°EForest Bed — 52.85°N, 1.47°EOlesa-Les Fonts alluvial system — 41.54°N, 2.06°E

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Talpa has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 220 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Talpa and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Talpa and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

1,664 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 192 sites for Talpa, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

84 references

Each of the 245 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 72 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content2

Picture of Talpa

Credit
Didier Descouens
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

CT scan

Licence
In Copyright
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record
Specimen
Talpa aquitania · isem:QM

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itTalpidae through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Linnaeus 1758