Scapanus

Scapanus is a genus of moles in the family Talpidae. They live in North America from west of the Rockies south to Baja California del Norte, and north to British Columbia, wherever conditions permit a mole population; that is to say, apart from the most sandy, rocky, or developed places. As they are one genus, they are very closely related, but as species, they rarely if ever interbreed successfully.

Scapanus
Temporal range: 13.6–0 Ma Mid Miocene-Recent
Broad-footed mole (Scapanus latimanus)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Eulipotyphla
Family: Talpidae
Tribe: Scalopini
Genus: Scapanus
Pomel, 1848

It contains the following living species:

In addition, there are several extinct species known from fossils.

Distribution

Townsend's mole is primarily a Californian mole, although its range spills over into neighboring states. The broad-footed mole lives primarily in western Oregon, Washington, and southwestern British Columbia, where it often overlaps the smaller range of the Pacific or coast mole, which, as the name implies, does not tend to range as far inland. The broad-footed is one of the largest and most powerful moles, while the coast mole is a quite average-sized mole.

References
  1. Hutchison, J. H. (1987). "Late Pliocene (Blancan) Scapanus (Scapanus)(Talpidae: Mammalia) from the Glenns Ferry Formation of Idaho" (PDF). PaleoBios. 12 (45): 1–7.
  2. Hutchison, J. H. "Moles of the Scapanus latimanus group (Talpidae, Insectivora) from the Pliocene and Pleistocene of California". Contributions in Science, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. 386: 1–15..
  3. "Scapanus proceridens Hutchison 1968 (mole)". Paleobiology Database. Retrieved February 2014. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  4. "Scapanus shultz Tedford 1961". Paleobiology Database. Retrieved February 2014. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
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