| Lesser Mole Rat | |
|---|---|
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Spalacidae |
| Genus: | Spalax |
| Species: | S. leucodon |
| Binomial name | |
| Spalax leucodon Nordmann, 1840 |
|
| Synonyms | |
|
Nannospalax leucodon (Nordmann, 1840) |
|
The Lesser Mole Rat (Spalax leucodon) is a species of rodent in the Spalacidae family. It is found in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, Turkey, and Ukraine. Recently, its taxonomic position is changing in the light of new scientific information.
Firstly, modern authors tend to separate this and some closely related mole rat species from other Spalax species by classifying them into a separate genus named Nannospalax.
Secondly, a recent cariological study shows that Nannospalax leucodon is in fact a superspecies that consists of several cariologically dinstinct cryptic species. It has four separate cariological forms in the Carpathian Basin, one of them is endangered, another one is vulnerable and there are no available data to evaluate the conservational status of the further two forms.