TALPIDAE (Moles)

The Talpidae, classified under the Order Soricomorpha, is a family of mammals whose living representatives are
now scattered across the Northern Hemisphere. The family is subdivided into the subfamilies Scalopinae (five genera
and seven species, temperate North America and central China), Talpinae (eleven genera and twenty-eight species,
Eurasia and Pacific Northwest North America), and Uropsilinae (one genus and four species, central China to
northern Burma). Present on a number of islands, including Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket (Massachusetts),
Oland, Hiiumaa and Saaremaa (Baltic Sea), Anglesey, Wight and Channel Islands (Great Britain), Corfu (Greece),
Hainan, Taiwan, many islands of the Japanese archipelago, and possibly Sardinia and Sicily. Desmana apparently
introduced into the Ob and Dneiper River systems.

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Copyright 2012 Charles. H. Smith. All rights reserved.