Bathyergidae

The blesmols, also known as mole-rats or African mole-rats, are burrowing rodents of the family Bathyergidae. They represent a distinct evolution of a subterranean life among rodents much like the pocket gophers of North America, the tuco-tucos in South America, and the Spalacidae from Eurasia.

Bathyergidae

Uncredited · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
mole ratPBDB
Sits inside
HystricognathiPBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB
Life habit
fossorialPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 37 million years on record.

The record covers at least 37.71 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 41.03 Mya to 0 Mya.

Eocene — about 1 of 207 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 134 of 207 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 9 of 207 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 20 of 207 occurrencesPleistocene — about 37 of 207 occurrences42–40 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences40–39 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences39–38 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences35–33 Mya — about 6 occurrences33–32 Mya — about 20 occurrences32–31 Mya — about 20 occurrences31–29 Mya — about 20 occurrences29–28 Mya — about 20 occurrences28–27 Mya — about 16 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 13 occurrences25–24 Mya — about 13 occurrences24–22 Mya — about 6 occurrences22–21 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences21–20 Mya — about 0.9 occurrences20–18 Mya — about 1 occurrence18–17 Mya — about 1 occurrence17–15 Mya — about 1 occurrence15–14 Mya — about 1 occurrence14–13 Mya — about 1 occurrence13–11 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences11–9.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences9.8–8.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences8.4–7.0 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences7.0–5.6 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences5.6–4.2 Mya — about 6 occurrences4.2–2.8 Mya — about 12 occurrences2.8–1.4 Mya — about 17 occurrences1.4–0 Mya — about 29 occurrences37.71 Mya11.7 ka41.9 Mya0 Mya

207 occurrences of Bathyergidae on record, most of them in the Oligocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

207 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

23 formations

Hsanda Gol — 45.27°N, 101.77°EHsanda Gol — 45.31°N, 101.63°EHsanda Gol — 45.45°N, 101.37°EHsanda Gol — 45.30°N, 102.08°EHsanda Gol — 45.45°N, 101.27°EHsanda Gol — 45.46°N, 101.20°EHsanda Gol — 45.39°N, 101.24°EHsanda Gol — 45.26°N, 101.72°EVogel River Series — 3.23°S, 35.22°EVogel River Series — 3.01°S, 35.20°EVogel River Series — 3.25°S, 35.20°EVogel River Series — 3.13°S, 35.13°EVarswater — 32.98°S, 18.15°EVarswater — 33.67°S, 18.43°EKeziletuogayi — 47.83°N, 86.68°EMakapansgat — 24.20°S, 28.95°EKromdraai — 26.00°S, 27.75°EUlantatal — 39.20°N, 105.57°EXianshuihe — 36.46°N, 104.16°EQingshuiying — 36.60°N, 105.69°ELoh — 45.38°N, 101.10°ELoh — 45.49°N, 101.20°EOlduvai — 2.98°S, 34.32°EOlduvai — 2.99°S, 35.34°ESwartkrans — 26.02°S, 27.72°EShungura — 5.08°N, 36.03°EShungura — 5.01°N, 36.00°EWulanbulage — 39.83°N, 108.73°EJiaozigou — 35.67°N, 103.38°EJiaozigou — 35.60°N, 103.20°EPaoniuquan — 40.50°N, 94.70°ENaogangdai — 42.04°N, 111.53°EVarswater & Bredasdorp — 32.98°S, 18.15°EUpper Koru Series — 0.23°S, 35.34°EMaboko — 0.17°N, 34.62°EMuhroni Agglomerates — 0.14°S, 35.21°ELegetet — 0.18°S, 35.27°EHanjiajing — 36.06°N, 103.79°E

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The named rock units Bathyergidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 39 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Bathyergidae and its relatives

Oligocene

Where Bathyergidae and its relatives were recorded in the Oligocene.

Found in the same rock

988 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 137 sites for Bathyergidae, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

66 references

Each of the 207 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 54 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Bathyergidae

Credit
nobody named on the record
Licence
not stated by the source
Commercial use
cannot be read from the licence given — check the record

No 3D scan of Bathyergidae was found in MorphoSource and Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access was not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itHystricognathi through timeFormations of the OligoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Waterhouse 1841