Middle East blind mole-rat

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Middle East blind mole-rat
Palestine Mole-rat 1.jpg
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Chordata
Class:
Mammalia
Order:
Rodentia
Family:
Spalacidae
Genus:
Spalax
Species:
S. ehrenbergi
Binomial name
Spalax ehrenbergi
(Nehring, 1898)
Synonyms

Nannospalax ehrenbergi

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The Middle East blind mole-rat or Palestine mole-rat (Spalax ehrenbergi) (also known as Nannospalax ehrenbergi) is a species of rodent in the family Spalacidae.[2]

Description

The Middle East blind mole-rat weighs 100–200 grams (3.5–7.1 oz). It has light gray fur and four sharp teeth, two large teeth in the upper jaw and two smaller teeth in the lower jaw. It has a life span of up to 20 years and is notable for its adaptability to severe lack of oxygen. In Israel, the blind mole-rat is a major agricultural pest. It digs long tunnels up to 80 centimeters deep and stores onions and tubers in underground chambers.[3]

Distribution and habitat

File:Nannospalax ehrenbergi soil mounds01.jpg
Soil mounds of the Middle East blind mole-rat in a field in Pardes Hanna-Karkur, Israel

Spalax ehrenbergi is found in Egypt, Iraq, Israel, the Palestinian territories, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Syria and Turkey. The natural habitat of the mole is Mediterranean-type shrubbish vegetation, and it is threatened by habitat loss.

Possible cryptospecies

Recent cytogenetic studies have shown S. ehrenbergi may actually be a species group containing several cryptic species with chromosome numbers 2n=48, 2n=52, 2n=54, 2n=56 and 2n=58.[4]

Use in research

According to Israeli researchers at Haifa University, the Middle East blind mole-rat is the ultimate lab animal for researching cancer due to its extraordinary resistance to the disease.[3]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Schlitter, D. 2004. Nannospalax ehrenbergi. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
  2. ↑ Musser, G. G. and Carleton, M. D. 2005. "Superfamily Muroidea". Pp. 894-1531 in Mammal Species of the World a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. D. E. Wilson and D. M. Reeder eds. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Better check that mole: Has an Israeli biologist found the key to curing cancer? Haaretz
  4. ↑ Sözen,M et al., Some karyological records and a new chromosomal form for Spalax (Mammalia: Rodentia) in Turkey. Folia Zool. – 55(3): 247–256 (2006)
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