ArticleScientific reports2025
An unexpected Scalopini mole (Talpidae, Mammalia) from the Pliocene of Europe sheds light on the phylogeny of talpids.
Article in Scientific reports, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The Pliocene Konservat-Lagerstätten maar lake site of Camp dels Ninots (NE Iberian Peninsula) has recently delivered a partial skeleton of a mole (family Talpidae) with many elements in anatomical connection. At a first glance, molar and humerus size, geological time interval, and geographical location suggested that this specimen could correspond to Talpa minor. However, after some mechanical preparation of the clay block (matrix removal, consolidation, and cleaning) and a micro-CT scan, this excellently preserved specimen turned out to be an unknown species to science. The resulting 3D models of this new form, Vulcanoscaptor ninoti gen. et sp. nov., revealed some peculiar morphological traits in teeth, mandible, and postcranial elements, which according to the phylogenetic analysis carried out, would allocate this new species within the tribe Scalopini. This is surprising, because the closest relatives of the new species within this tribe live nowadays in North America, and only some related taxa had been previously reported in the Oligocene and Miocene fossil record from Europe. The postcranial construction of this specimen reveals a highly fossorial lifestyle supported by a complex forelimb structure. How such a specialized digging animal reached the maar lake sediments where it was finally preserved is still to be solved. Some hypotheses consider swimming abilities for this extinct species. Alternatively, this specimen could be the remaining portions of a floated or scavenged carcass whose remains fell into the lake and reached the anoxic bottom.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.