Folia Historico-Naturalia Musei Matraensis - A Mátra Múzeum Természetrajzi Közleményei 12. (1987)
Czájlik, P.: A Talpa romana ehiki n. subsp. leírása, koponya méreteinek biometriai elemzése
Fol. Hist.-nat. Mus. Matr., 12: 133-157, 1987 The description of Talpa romána ehiki п. subsp., and the biometrical analysis of skull measurements CZAJLIK Péter Budapest ABSTRACT: (The description of Talpa romána ehiki п. subsp., and the biometrical analysis of skull measurements. - Dr. Lajos VÉGHELYI's collection III.) - The new subspecies is described on the basis of specimens collected by István VÁSÁRHELYI at Pusztapó in 1929. A comparative biometrical analysis of the populations of Talpa europaea and Talpa romána is presented. A biogeographically and geologically based proposal to the taxonomy of Talpa romána populations is also given. Working on Dr. Lajos VÉGÛELYI's mammal collection I recognized, that the measurements of Talpa skulls collocted at Pusztapó were different from those of Talpa europaea given in Fauna Hungáriáé. So, those skulls were examined in more detail . It was a great surprise, that the teeth of these specimens were quite different from that of Talpa europaea , according to the description of S. G. MILLER (1912), G. H. V. STEIN (1951), E. SCHWARZ (1948), С. G. OVENDEN (1982). The following characteristics referred to the teeth of Talpa romána , according to the description of E. SCHWARZ (1948), S. G. MILLER (1912), С. G. OVENDEN (1982), G. H. W. STEIN (1951), E. CAPANNA (1981) and B. M. PETROV (1971): - maximal diameter (3,8 - 4,0 mm) of maxillar M, - developed cingulum of maxillar M, - detached bifid mesostyle of maxillar M, , - developed cingulum of maxillar Р д - wide parastyle. All the authors mentioned above agree in that Talpa romána differs from Talpa europaea in the detached bifid mesostyle of maxillar M, and in having bigger teeth. Revising the Talpa specimens from Pusztapó of the mammal collection of the Museum of Natural History, I found a new interesting fact, concerning the history of science. Dr. Gyula EHIK recognized and described this difference in the late 1920-s. He wrote on the identity paper of Mus. Nat.-His. No. 3524/1: "It may be Talpa hungarica -Éhik-", and on the back of the paper: "The moles at Pusztapó are all bigger, than normal.". On the leg-paper of this specimen he wrote: "It may be Talpa hungarica " , whereas in the carton of the specimen he wrote: "The mode of measuring CB should be defined in ТаДра . From the Hungarian specimens, those of from Pusztapó are considerably big, and the teeth of them are like those of Talpa romána ; the position of preorbital foramen varies gretly in all Talpa europaea , it is not in harmony with MILLER' s description . And neither the for. suborbitalis , nor the mesostyle satisfy MILLER' s description of Talpa caeca . On the other hand it seems, that the caeca or a similar form exists in the south (in the mountains) ."(F ig . 1). It is difficult to judge, whether the last sentence refers to Talpa romána stankovici MARTINO and MARTINO (1931) having been described later. Nevertheless one can see, that ÉHIK had really sharp eyes. At the time of ËHIK's notes besides the species description (THOMAS, 1902) only MILLER'S (1912) data were available concerning Talpa romána terra typica, which were based on very few specimens. This is why ÉHIK was not able to classify the Talpa population of Pusztapó on the basis of similarities in the teeth. Even more, the two specimens that he studied had relatively narrow rostrum comparing with the others from Pusztapó (с. f. Table 1.) THOMAS and MILLER regarded wide rostrum as distinctive characteristic. Both specimens are very old with threadbare teeth, so it was difficult to recognize their distinctive characteristics . Perhaps that is why ËHIK thought of a new species, Talpa hungarica . 133
