The Namaqua dune mole-rat (''Bathyergus janetta'') is a species of

rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the Order (biology), order Rodentia ( ), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and Mandible, lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal specie ...

in the family Bathyergidae found in

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry

shrubland Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominance (ecology), dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbaceous plant, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally o ...

, caves, and sandy shores. The Naquama dune mole rat and its sister species, the Cape dune mole rat, have similar habitats that they occupy favoring subtropical environments however the Naquama dune mole-rat is an arid adapted solitary species while the Cape dune mole rat occupies the sandy terrain of the Cape (Lovegrove, 2001). Bathyergus janetta is said to have a sister species called ''Bathyergus suillus" that is paraphyletic meaning that they have common ancestral descendants but are not identical (Bennet, 2014) The IUCN assessment states that :

Although the extent of occurrence is less than 20,000 km², and the potential impact of
diamond mining Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Diamond is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of electricity, and insol ...
remains to be quantified, at present, there is no reason to believe that the species is declining, and its presence in areas entirely restricted to public access (and with extremely high protection) suggest it should be Least Concern.

References

* Bathyergus Rodents of Africa Mammals of Namibia Mammals of South Africa Mammals described in 1904 Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{rodent-stub