mole-ratn.
/ˈməʊlrat/, U.S. /ˈmoʊlˌræt/ Any of various short-legged herbivorous rodents somewhat resembling moles in appearance and having long protruding incisors used for burrowing; spec. (a) a rodent of either of the murid subfamilies Spalacinae, of the eastern Mediterranean and southern Russia (more fully blind mole-rat), and Myospalacinae, of eastern Asia (also called zokor); (b) (more fully African mole-rat) a rodent of the family Bathyergidae, of sub-Saharan Africa (naked mole-rat: see naked adj. and n.1 Compounds 1); (c) (more fully east African mole-rat) a rodent of the murid subfamily Rhizomyinae, of eastern Africa, esp. one of the genus Tachyoryctes (also called root rat).
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > mammals > group Unguiculata or clawed mammal > order Rodentia or rodent > superfamily Myomorpha (mouse, rat, vole, or hamster) > [noun] > family Muridae > genus Spalax (mole-rat)
zemni1775
mole-rat1781
rat-mole1827
1781 T. Pennant Hist. Quadrupeds II. 469 Blind Mole-Rat.
1836–9 Todd's Cycl. Anat. & Physiol. II. 176/2 The mole-rat (Aspalax zemni).
1855 W. S. Dallas in Syst. Nat. Hist. II. 463 The Georhychidæ, or Mole-Rats, form another family nearly allied to the Muridæ.
1873 H. B. Tristram Land of Moab vii. 124 Unsound ground, rendered more treacherous than usual by the washing in of the burrows of the mole-rat.
1885 Riverside Nat. Hist. (1888) V. 101 The Mole-rats, or family Spalacidæ.
1885 Riverside Nat. Hist. (1888) V. 102 There are some half-dozen species of the latter [sc. Bathyergus], all of South Africa, among them the Strand Mole-rat (B. maritimus).
1962 M. Burton Syst. Dict. Mammals of World 97 Family Bathyergidae (African Mole-Rats). Includes 6 genera (Georychus, Cryptomys, Bathyergus, etc.).
1962 M. Burton Syst. Dict. Mammals of World 140 Mole-rat (Tachyoryctes): once placed near Bamboo Rats, now with true rats.
1977 J. L. Harper Population Biol. Plants xv. 468 (caption) The arrangement of tunnels and larders of the mole rat (Spalax ehrenbergi).
1980 S. H. Prater Bk. Indian Animals (ed. 3) 205 The Indian Mole-Rat Bandicota bengalensis... The Mole-Rat was classified under a separate genus (Gunomys). It is now included in the genus Bandicota (the bandicoots).
1980 G. B. Corbet & J. E. Hill World List Mammalian Species 159 Subfamily Rhizomyinae. East African mole-rats, bamboo rats; c. 6 species.
1991 R. M. Nowak Walker's Mammals of World (ed. 5) II. 726/2 African mole-rats are sometimes agricultural pests, because of their raids on sweet potatoes, corn, beans, [etc.].
1995 Sci. Amer. Aug. 67/2 Three other species of vertebrates—the blind mole rat of Israel (Spalax), the Cape mole rat of South Africa (Georychus) and the bannertail kangaroo rat of the U.S. Southwest (Dipodomys)—have now been shown to communicate seismically.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2002; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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