Eotalpa anglica is the oldest known mole, it was discovered in the Late Eocene deposits of Hampshire Basin, UK.

[2] The most primitive living talpids are believed to be the shrew-like moles, with other species having adapted further into the subterranean, and, in some cases, aquatic lifestyles.

The forelimbs of moles are highly adapted for digging, with powerful claws, and the paws turned permanently outwards to aid in shovelling dirt away from the front of the body.

[6] Detailed developmental studies of Talpa occidentalis have revealed that the female gonads develop in a "testis-like pattern".

Additionally, the female germ cells only enter meiosis postnatally, a phenomenon that has not been found in any other eutherian mammal.

[6] Phylogenetic analyses have suggested that, like in lemuroids, this trait must have evolved in a common ancestor of the clade, and has been "turned off and on" in different talpid lineages.

The shrew moles dig burrows to access deep sleeping chambers, but forage for food on the forest floor by night.

Some studies suggest that this classification into three subfamilies is not entirely accurate, finding Uropsilinae to be the most basal member, then Desmanini, then a clade comprising Neurotrichini, Scaptonychini, and Urotrichini, then the Condylurini, and then Talpini and Scalopini being sister groups to one another.

[13] The following mammals have burrowing habits, and have by virtue of convergent evolution many derived characters in common with true moles from the family Talpidae but are nonetheless unrelated.