Mole rats are exclusively subterranean and highly specialized rodents. Their long lifespans, remarkable anti-cancer mechanisms, and various distinctive adaptive features make them a useful research model. Moreover, opposing convergence of morphological traits, they have developed extremely high karyotype variability. Thus, 74 chromosomal forms have been described so far and new ones are being revealed continuously. These evolved during the process of rapid radiation and occur in different biogeographical regions. During research into their reproductive biology we have already provided substantial evidence for species-level separation of these taxa. Here, we review diverse chromosomal forms of the lesser blind mole rat, Mediterranean Nannospalax leucodon, distributed in South-eastern Europe, their karyotype records, biogeography, origin, and phylogeny from our extensive research. In the light of new data from molecular genetic studies, we question some former valuations and propose a cryptospecies rank for seven reproductively isolated chromosomal forms with sympatric and parapatric distribution and clear ecogeographical discrepances in their habitats, as well as new experimental and theoretical methods for understanding the courses of speciation of these unique fossorial mammals.

During the past decade, golden jackal populations have substantially increased, yet little is known of their potential for transmitting parasites within animal and human hosts. In the present study, between 2005 and 2010, 447 jackals from six localities in Serbia were examined for intestinal parasites. Two species of trematodes (Alaria alata, Pseudamphistomum truncatum), three nematodes (Toxocara canis, Ancylostoma caninum, Gongylonema sp.), and seven cestodes (Taenia pisiformis, Taenia hydatigena, Multiceps multiceps, Multiceps serialis, Mesocestoides lineatus, Mesocestoides litteratus, Dipylidium caninum) were identified. Pseudamphistomum truncatum and M. serialis species were recorded for the first time. The overall prevalence of parasitic infection was 10.3%. No significant differences were found in the prevalence of infection between males and females (P>0.817), between localities (P>0.502), or with regard to annual cycles (P>0.502). In the infected jackal population, 65% harboured multiple infections and one individual was a host to five different types of parasite species, the highest number of parasites we recorded in a single host. These findings indicate that although the prevalence of gastrointestinal helminths in the jackal population in Serbia is significantly lower than expected from earlier studies, further monitoring is required given the jackal's rapid population increase.