Desmana moschata

• Main Authors: Russell A. Mittermeier, Don E. Wilson
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Published: Lynx Edicions 2018
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Taxonomy; Animalia; Chordata; Mammalia; Soricomorpha; Talpidae; Desmana; Desmana moschata; ob river; Siberia
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6671952; http://treatment.plazi.org/id/0380B547B656FF859F96FD89F652C18B

20. Russian Desman Desmana moschata French: Desman de Russie / German: Russischer Desman / Spanish: Desmaén ruso Other common names: Desman, Water Mole Taxonomy. Castor moschatus Linnaeus, 1758, “Russia.” Desmana moschata is the only extant species of Desmana. Monotypic. Distribution. Watersheds of Dnieper, Don, Volga, and Kama rivers, and middle and lower reaches of Ural River in European Russia, E Ukraine, and NW Kazakhstan. Introduced to the upper reaches of Ob River in W Siberia. Descriptive notes. Head-body 200-225 mm (males) and 193-240 mm (females), tail 185-203 mm (males) and 180-210 mm (females), hindfoot 51-58 mm; weight 390-450 g (males) and 370-447 g (females). Sexes are about the same size. Body of the Russian Desman is chunky; head is conical, with long snout that is dorso-ventrally flattened and grooved on lower side. Whiskers are short, and dorsally situated nostrils can be closed underwater. Eyes are small, and pinna is absent. Tail is 90-95% of head-body length, laterally compressed, and more massive at base where scent glands are located. Rings of horny scales cover tail, with scarce hairs in between. Hindfoot is much larger that forefoot; each has five fingers with strong claws. Palms and soles are webbed and fringed with stiff hairs. Skin is thicker on chest (0-43 mm) than on back (0-28 mm). Pelage consists of short, dense underfur and longer, coarser guard hair. Fur is denser on venter (20,300 hairs/cm?) than dorsum (15,800 hairs/cm?). Fur is deep reddish brown to almost blackish above and ash-gray below. Skin is characteristically silvery. Young are duller. Albinos are rare; one was found among 5000-6000 skins. Females have four pairs of nipples. Skull is robust and powerful. When seen from above, massive rostrum has parallel edges. Braincase is deep, wide, and well ridged for insertion of powerful masseters. Mandible is deep and robust, with high coronoid process and massive angular process. Dental formula is usually given as I 3/3, C1/1,P4/4,M 3/3 (x2) = 44. Because premaxilla bears only ...