Mole-rat

Mole-rat or mole rat refers to several groups of burrowing rodents:

• Bathyergidae, a family of about 20 species in six genera from Africa called blesmols, including:
  • Heterocephalus glaber, the naked mole-rat;
• Spalacidae, a family of about 30 species in six genera from Eurasia and northeast Africa, including:
  • Tachyoryctes, a genus of about 15 species from Africa;
  • Blind mole rats (Spalacinae), a subfamily of about 15 living species in the genus Spalax from southeastern Europe, southwestern Asia, and northeastern Africa;
  • Zokors (Myospalacinae), occasionally called mole-rats, about eight species from central and eastern Asia.
• In the family Muridae:
  • 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, in the family Cricetidae, from southernmost South America, also known as the mountain mole-rat.