European Mole

Open encyclopedia reference

The European mole (Talpa europaea) is a mammal of the order Eulipotyphla. It is also known as the common mole and the northern mole.

This mole lives in a tunnel system, which it constantly extends. It uses these tunnels to hunt its prey. Under normal conditions, the displaced earth is pushed to the surface, resulting in the characteristic molehills. It is an omnivore that feeds mainly on earthworms, but also on insects, centipedes and mammals such as rodents and other moles. Its saliva contains toxins which paralyse earthworms in particular.

Wikipedia contributors, European mole; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T03:03:43.498522+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Talpa europaea Linnaeus, 1758

Name authority

Linnaeus, 1758

Common name

European Mole

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Mammalia

Order

Eulipotyphla

Family

Talpidae

Genus

Talpa

Extinction status

Recorded extant

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. megaclassTetrapoda
8. classMammalia Linnaeus, 1758
9. subclassTheria Parker & Haswell, 1897
10. infraclassEutheria Gill, 1872
11. orderEulipotyphla Waddell, Okada & Hasegawa, 1999
12. familyTalpidae G. Fischer, 1814
13. subfamilyTalpinae G. Fischer, 1814
14. tribeTalpini G. Fischer, 1814
15. genusTalpa Linnaeus, 1758
16. speciesTalpa europaea Linnaeus, 1758

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Talpa. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

Browse 30 records assigned to Talpidae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Documented distribution

Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

1. https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=633852 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:54M2V. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.