Star-Nosed Mole (Condylura cristata)

County List:

Rule:

Forested or Nonforested Landscapes

      (Any Lowland Deciduous (Pole or Sm Saw or Lg Saw or Uneven))
      or (Any Lowland Conifer (Sm Saw or Lg Saw or Uneven))
      or (Any Lowland Mixed (Sm Saw or Lg Saw or Uneven))
      or Treed Bog
      or Sedge Meadow
      or Lowland Brush
      or Bog
      or Riparian
   containing:
      Dead Down Woody Debris

Habitat List:

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Literature:

The star-nosed mole prefers wet, even saturated soils, and it frequents the borders of swamps, lakes, streams, and isolated areas of poor drainage.

Diet depends on habitat. A star-nosed mole without access to open water preys most heavily on earthworms and, to a lesser extent, on adult and immature terrestrial insects. Moles that live near large bodies of water take mostly aquatic worms and leeches and supplement these with the larvae of aquatic insects, such as caddisflies, stoneflies, and midges. It also eats small fish on occasion.

Habitat: Prefers low wet ground near bodies of water, swamps, wet meadows, occasional wet spots in fields or low-lying woods. Has been found in mixed hardwood stands with dry soils near water.

Special Habitat Requirements: Wet, mucky humus.

Habitat Preferences: This most aquatic of American moles requires moist soil conditions and is rarely found remote from poorly drained woodlands and openings, stream banks, and swamp, marsh, pond or lake borders. On rare occasions it has been found in rather dry situations; Paradiso, for example found one in a dry meadow ¼ mile from the nearest water. By using snow tunnels in winter, the star-nosed mole is also apt to move away from its normally damp haunts.

Behavior: The nests of the star-nosed mole are centers of activity. They are placed above the high water line in an enlarged place in the burrow system at subsurface levels, from as shallow as 3 inches to as deep as 12 inches. Nest may also be at the surface under the protection of an object such as a log.

Associates: In the course of the star-nosed mole's semi-aquatic existence, it frequents marsh and swamp habitat used by muskrats. In Roscommon County, Rabe caught star-nosed moles in a leatherleaf-bog birch peatland community in association with the masked shrew, pygmy shrew, water shrew, short-tailed shrew, meadow vole, and meadow jumping mouse.

Food Habits: Like the eastern mole, the star-nosed mole eats larval, pupal, and adult insects and earthworms. In addition, the diet includes such aquatic foods as leeches; aquatic worms; immature stages (nymphs) of stone flies, caddis flies, and dragon and damsel flies; larval stages of midges, craneflies, horseflies, and water beetles; mollusks; crustacea; and minnows.

Ecology: Burrows of star-nosed moles are typically constructed in or near marshy areas or streams. Burrows range in height from 3 to 6 cm, and in depth below the surface from 3 to 60 cm. Burrows are most common and elaborate around rocks, fallen logs, and tree roots, and often open underwater when near streams or ponds. There is some evidence to suggest that these moles spend more time in the water in the winter than they do in other seasons.