The Bathyergidae is considered secondarily protrogomorphous since its zygomatic condition clearly derived from a hystricomorphous ancestor.

The blesmols, also known as mole rats, or African mole-rats, are burrowing rodents of the family Bathyergidae.

Ansell's mole rat (Fukomys anselli) is a species of rodent in the family Bathyergidae.

At its core lie the extant families Thryonomyidae, Petromuridae, and Bathyergidae and their extinct relatives.

On the nomenclature of Bathyergidae and Fukomys n. gen. (Mammalia: Rodentia).

Family Bathyergidae: African mole-rats (Africa)

The hystricognath mole rats of the family Bathyergidae are completely unrelated, but some other forms are also in the family Spalacidae.

The Namaqua Dune Mole Rat (Bathyergus janetta) is a species of rodent in the Bathyergidae family.

This is supported by molecular results, which suggest that the Phiomorpha (as restricted to Bathyergidae, Petromuridae, and Thryonomyidae) are sister taxa to the Caviomorpha.

The family Bathyergidae, or African Mole-rats (including the well-known Naked Mole Rat), belong to the other major division of the rodents, the Hystricomorphs.