A mole chase—supplementary notes on Kyukichi Kishida’s mammalogy

Abstract

This manuscript was prepared as supplemental information on the late Dr. Kyukichi Kishida, who was a pioneer in “Japanese independent mammalogy,” as described in detail by Shimoinaba and Yasuda (2018). He studied Taiwanese mole species in the 1930’s as examples of the biogeography of Taiwanese mammals. He recognized Mogera insularis (Swinhoe, 1862) and at most two distinct species on the island, and compiled them and some other closely related mole species found on the southeastern part of the Asian Continent into a new genus distinct from Mogera, without description of species nor genus. Although these taxa are considered as nomina nuda, recent morphological and genetic research indicates the possibility that they may correspond to one distinct species of mole, i.e. Mogera kanoana Kawada et al., 2007, including a genetic variety of M. kanoana in Taiwan. A new genus may also be supported by distinct trends in karyological evolution shown in the M. insularis group (M. hainana, M. insularis and M. latouchei). Kishida’s predictions on the taxonomy of Taiwanese moles are thought to be well applicable.