49.

Orlov’s Mole

Euroscaptor orlovi

French: Taupe d'Orlov / German: Orlov-Maulwurf / Spanish: Topo de Orlov

Taxonomy. Euroscaptor orlovi Zemlemerova et al., 2016,

“VIETNAM, Lao Cai Province, 6 km W of Sa Pa, north slope of Fansipan Mt. area, near Tram Ton forest station, 22°21°N, 103°46’E, altitude 2000 m a.s.l.”

Euroscaptor orlovi was formerly part of EL longirostris. Monotypic.

Distribution. SW China (W Yunnan) and NW Vietnam (Lao Cai Province); possibly from N Laos E to N Vietnam, W of Red River.

Descriptive notes. Head-body 106-129 mm, tail 15-17-5 mm, hindfoot 15-5 mm; weight 25-8-48-3 g. Tail is 12:6-15-1% of head-body length. Orlov’s Mole hasa large, elongated body. Tail is long and club-shaped, evenly covered with long hairs. Pelage is blackish brown throughout. Skull has long, narrow rostrum. Chromosomal complement from Sa Pa in Vietnam has 2n = 34 and FNa = 52 (reported as Long-nosed Mole, E. longirostris).

Habitat. Mountain forests. Sympatric with La Touche’s Mole (Mogera latouchei), but Orlov’s Mole can be distributed in higher elevations.

Food and Feeding. No information.

Breeding. No information.

Activity patterns. Orlov’s Mole is fossorial.

Movements, Home range and Social organization. No information.

Status and Conservation. Not assessed on The IUCN Red List.

Bibliography. Kawada, Nguyen Truong Son & Dang Ngoc Can (2008, 2009), Zemlemerova, Bannikova, Abramov et al. (2013), Zemlemerova, Bannikova, Lebedev et al. (2016).