TERRITORIAL BEHAVIOR IN TALPA-ROMANA, A FOSSORIAL INSECTIVORE FROM SOUTH-CENTRAL ITALY

A natural population of Talpa romana was radiotracked in central Italy , close to the type locality of the species. We assessed the territori al behavior of the species, which is inferred from use of exclusive co re areas. Some spatial overlap was observed between the home ranges of animals of different sex, more specifically between the home range of a male and those of neighboring females. Temporal variation of core a reas suggests that they represent portions of the home range intensive ly exploited for food resources on a short-term basis, while maintenan ce of the entire home range is possibly related to the probability of mating and availability of food in the long term.