Two New Moles (Genus Scalopus) from Mexico and Texas

In the spring of 1950 a small University of Kansas team trekked through the rugged Sierra del Carmen of northern Coahuila, Mexico, setting traps for pocket gophers among the oak‑lined canyons. One morning, a routine trap revealed a slender, medium‑sized mole unlike any they had seen, prompting the researchers to collect a complete skin, skull and skeleton for careful study. The discovery quickly proved remarkable: the animal represented a previously unknown species, distinct enough to merit a new scientific name.

The ensuing paper offers a meticulous description of this mole’s appearance—its buff‑brown fur, a faint rufous wash on the head, a modestly long tail and uniquely slender fore‑claws—alongside detailed skull measurements that set it apart from its North‑American relatives. Isolated high in the mountains, the new species highlights a surprising gap in the geographic range of the genus and suggests that the rugged Sierra del Carmen may harbor more undiscovered wildlife.