The historical notes and taxonomic problems of East Asian moles, Euroscaptor, Parascaptor and Scaptochirus, of continental Asia (Insectivora, Talpidae)

概要

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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.
日本哺乳類学会の論文
2005-12-01