Mole-rat
Encyclopedia
Mole rat or mole-rat refers to several groups of burrowing rodents or * Bathyergidae, a family of about twenty species from Africa, including:
- Heterocephalus glaber; the "naked mole ratNaked Mole RatThe naked mole rat , also known as the sand puppy or desert mole rat, is a burrowing rodent native to parts of East Africa and the only species currently classified in the genus Heterocephalus...
"; - SpalacidaeSpalacidaeThe Spalacidae, or spalacids are a family of rodents in the large and complex superfamily Muroidea. They are native to eastern Asia, the Horn of Africa, the Middle East, and south-eastern Europe. It includes the blind mole rats, bamboo rats, root rats, and zokors...
, a family of about thirty species from Eurasia and northeast Africa, including:- TachyoryctesTachyoryctesTachyoryctes is a genus of rodent in the Spalacidae family.It contains the following species:* Ankole Mole Rat * Mianzini Mole Rat * Audacious Mole Rat...
, a genus of about fifteen species from Africa; - Blind mole ratBlind mole ratThe genus Spalax contains the blind, fossorial, or subterranean mole rats, which are one of several types of rodents that are called mole rats. The hystricognath mole rats of the family Bathyergidae are completely unrelated, but some other forms are also in the family Spalacidae...
s (Spalacinae), a subfamily of about fifteen living species from southeastern Europe, southwestern Asia, and northeastern Africa; - Zokors (Myospalacinae), occasionally called mole rats, about eight species from central and eastern Asia.
- Tachyoryctes
- Nesokia indica from southern and southwestern Asia and Egypt, also known as the short-tailed mole rat;
- Bandicota bengalensis from southern Asia, also known as the Indian mole rat;
- Chelemys macronyx from southernmost South America, also known as the mountain mole-rat.