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
Figure 1. A- Note written by Gyula ÉHIK (1926) about the Talpa population at Pusztapó. В- The identinfying paper of Talpa specimens at the Natural History Museum with ÉHIK's handwriting (for text see page) 134 The intense study of Talpa romána was started by the works of SCHWARZ (1984) and STEIN (1950, 1959, 1960, 1963). The debates concerning this species have continued since that time. Originally THOMAS (1902) introduced this name to describe the mole population around Rome, since it was different from Talpa europaea in some important measuements, especially in its bigger body size. MILLER accepted that, moreover he stressed a characteristic feature of this species, the detached bifid mesostyle of the upper three molars. In Talpa europaea they are simple. SCHWARZ (1948), STEIN (1950) and TOSCHI (1954) agree with MILLER and THOMAS in this taxonomic interpretation. ELLERMANN and MORRISON-SCOTT (1951) had important objection to the validity of this species, namely, these species have allopatric distribution. So it "r^ not sure, whether the morphological difference between the two species ( Talpa го mana and Talpa europaea ) would remain if they occured in the same area. SAINTGIRONS (1973; had the same opinion, and suggested, that these two taxa should be classified as subspecies. In a less known study on the mammal fauna of Apulia by PASA (1951) the occurrence of these two species is mentioned in that part of Italy. Talpa romána occurs in the mountains (700 - 1000 m), whereas Talpa europaea at less than 100 meters above sealevel. So ELLERMANN's and MORRISON-SCOTT's objection has not any sound basis. Especially if one regards the common occurrence of Ta lpa romána stankovici and Talpa europaea in Macedonia (STEIN, 1960, 1963, FELTFR and STROCH, 1965, T0D0R0VIC, 1960, GURLICH, 1971, PETR0V, 1971, 1974, 1979). To judge this dilemma E. CAPANNA (1981) studied the karyotypes of Talpa europaea and Talpa romána terra typica from Italy, then compared them with those of Talpa romána stankovici . Talpa caeca caeca and Talpa caeca hercegovinensis . The conclusion was, that there are two possible solutions: 1. "All the populations mentioned above are regarded as separate species accepting the differences in their karyotypes, or" 2. "Formation of two'superspecies , namely Talpa europaea including Talpa europaea europaea , Talpa europaea romána and Talpa europaea stankovici , and Talpa caeca including Talpa caeca caeca and Talpa caeca hercegovinensis as subspecies. The difference in chromosome number of Talpa europaea stankovfci and Talpa europaea romána , and their big teeth contradict the existence of these superspecies .". M. C0RTI et al. (1985) studied the Talpa populations of Italy using multivariate analysis. According to their results Talpa romána terra typica and Talpa romána from Southern Italy are both distinct from either the northern, or the southern populations of Talpa europaea at the species level. And both species are distinct from the populations of Talpa caeca at Abruzzo, Piedmont and Aosta. Regarding the high values of discriminant functions (DF I. = 8,92425, OF II. = 3,12768), it is plain that Talpa europaea , Talpa romána and talpa caeca are three distinct species. During the course of this debate much data have come out concerning different populations of Talpa romána . This makes much easier to judge the taxonomic position of the Talpa population at Pusztapó.
