Desmans are diving insectivores of the tribe Desmanini (also considered a subfamily, Desmaninae) in the
mole family,
Talpidae.
This tribe consists of two extant
monotypic genera of semiaquatic
insectivores found in
Europe: one in Russia and the other in the northwest of the
Iberian peninsula and
Pyrenees. Both species are
endangered, the Russian desman
critically so.[2][3] They have webbed paws and their front paws are not well-adapted for digging. Desmans were much more diverse and widespread during the
Miocene, with two genera, Gaillardia and Magnatalpa, being present in North America.[4][5] Both living species are thought to have derived from the fossil genus Archaeodesmana.[6]
^Hutchison, John Howard (1974). "Notes on type specimens of European Miocene Talpidae and a tentative classification of old world Tertiary Talpidae (Insectivora: Mammalia)". Geobios. 7 (3): 211–256.
Bibcode:
1974Geobi...7..211H.
doi:
10.1016/s0016-6995(74)80009-4.