FUNCTIONAL AND SYSTEMATIC IMPLICATIONS OF THE EAR IN GOLDEN MOLES (CHRYSOCHLORIDAE)

Golden moles (Chrysochloridae) are fossorial mammals known to have unu sual mallei. The aim of this study was to describe and quantify aspect s of the auditory morphology of golden moles in order to determine the ir systematic and functional implications. Observations were made on s keletal material as well as histological sections. The results of this study do not support the separation of the genus Calcochloris from Am blysomus. It was found that the morphology shared by all the studied g enera is indicative of specialization for hearing low frequency sound. The tympanic membrane to stapes footplate ratios, ossicular lever arm ratios and incudomallear joint morphology suggest low frequency speci alizations in genera with small mallear heads and high frequency speci alizations in genera with large mallear heads. However, the size and d egree of trabeculation of the tympanic cavity are not consistent with this result. It is proposed that all golden moles are low frequency he arers with differences in their range of sensitivity according to how much time they spend foraging above ground.