biology

List of talpids

List of talpids is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand List of talpids rather than just read about it. In short: Talpidae is one of the four families of small mammals in the order Eulipotyphla. A member of this family is called a talpid and the family includes moles, shrew moles, and desmans.

Key takeaways

List of talpids belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect List of talpids to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of List of talpids from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Talpidae is one of the four families of small mammals in the order Eulipotyphla. A member of this family is called a talpid and the family includes moles, shrew moles, and desmans. Talpids are found in North America, Europe, and Asia, primarily in forests, shrublands, grasslands, and wetlands, though some species can also be found in deserts or coastal areas. They range in size from the Chinese shrew mole, at 6 cm (2 in) plus a 5 cm (2 in) tail, to the Russian desman, at 22 cm (9 in) plus a 22 cm (9 in) tail. Talpids primarily eat earthworms, insects, and other invertebrates, but some also consume fish, mollusks, amphibians, crustaceans, plants, and fungi. No talpids have population estimates, but the Pyrenean desman and Echigo mole are categorized as endangered species, while the Russian desman is categorized as critically endangered. The forty-five extant species of Talpidae are divided into three subfamilies: Scalopinae, containing seven mole species in five genera, Talpinae, containing thirty-three mole, shrew mole, and desman species in eleven genera, and Uropsilinae, containing four shrew mole species in a single genus. A few extinct prehistoric Talpidae species have been discovered, though due to ongoing research and discoveries the exact number and categorization is not fixed.

Conventions

The author citation for the species or genus is given after the scientific name; parentheses around the author citation indicate that this was not the original taxonomic placement. Conservation status codes listed follow the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. Range maps are provided wherever possible; if a range map is not available, a description of the talpid's range is provided. Ranges are based on the IUCN Red List for that species unless otherwise noted.

Classification

The family Talpidae consists of forty-five extant species in three subfamilies: Scalopinae, containing seven mole species in five genera, Talpinae, containing thirty-three mole, shrew mole, and desman species in eleven genera, and Uropsilinae, containing four shrew mole species in a single genus. Family Talpidae

Subfamily Scalopinae Genus Condylura (star-nosed mole): one species Genus Parascalops (hairy-tailed mole): one species Genus Scalopus (eastern mole): one species Genus Scapanulus (Gansu mole): one species Genus Scapanus (western moles): three species Subfamily Talpinae Genus Desmana (Russian desman): one species Genus Dymecodon (True's shrew mole): one species Genus Euroscaptor (Asiatic moles): seven species Genus Galemys (Pyrenean desman): one species Genus Mogera (East Asian moles): seven species Genus Neurotrichus (American shrew mole): one species Genus Parascaptor (white-tailed mole): one species Genus Scaptochirus (short-faced mole): one species Genus Scaptonyx (long-tailed mole): one species Genus Talpa (European moles): eleven species Genus Urotrichus (Japanese shrew mole): one species Subfamily Uropsilinae Genus Uropsilus (shrew-like moles): four species

Talpids The following classification is based on the taxonomy described by the reference work Mammal Species of the World (2005), with augmentation by generally accepted proposals made since using molecular phylogenetic analysis, as supported by both the IUCN and the American Society of Mammalogists.

Subfamily Scalopinae

Subfamily Talpinae

Subfamily Uropsilinae

References

Sources

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with List of talpids

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what List of talpids claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to List of talpids before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about List of talpids ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of List of talpids

In research: List of talpids appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses List of talpids in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: List of talpids is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Lists of animal species, Lists of eulipotyphlans, Talpidae, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for List of talpids outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study List of talpids in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what List of talpids means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain List of talpids out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is List of talpids in simple terms?

Talpidae is one of the four families of small mammals in the order Eulipotyphla. A member of this family is called a talpid and the family includes moles, shrew moles, and desmans.

Why does List of talpids matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study List of talpids?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on List of talpids.