Tachyoryctes ankoliae Thomas 1909

Tachyoryctes ankoliae Thomas 1909, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 8, 4: 545.

Type Locality: SW Uganda, Burumba, Ankole.

Vernacular Names: Ankole African Mole Rat.

Distribution: SW Uganda (Hollister, 1919; Lunde and Sarmiento, 2002) NW Tanzania (Swynnerton and Hayman, 1951); limits unknown.

Conservation: IUCN - Vulnerable.

Discussion: Recorded as a species by Swynnerton and Hayman (1951) but as a subspecies of T. splendens by Delany (1975), who nevertheless noted the cranial traits by which ankoliae could be distinguished from the adjacent ruddi, which was also treated as a subspecies of T. splendens by Delany. Both T. ankoliae and T. ruddi were caught in the Kalinzu forest preserve in SW Uganda (Lunde and Sarmiento, 2002) and the two species apparently occur in NW Tanzania (see account of T. ruddi).