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Key Words:

To aid in your search, you might want to try searching the term "Fossorial."

• Fossorial animals are animals that are adapted to digging and life underground.

  • Though note: Lessa et al (2008) use fossorial to describe species that spend a substantial fraction of their lives outside their burrows, while they use subterranean to describe species that perform most activities underground.

You might also want to examine a list of troglobites.

• Troglobites are animals that live entirely in the dark parts of caves.

Big Species

I think large specimens of @JayCkat's suggested species (Microchaetus rappi) will be tough to "beat", with large specimens reaching 6.7 m and 1.5 kg.

However, here's a list of other species anyways:

Some extant large species of fossorial animals:

• Cape dune mole-rat (Bathyergus suillus): 27-35 cm (up to 39cm including tail); 570-1350 g

  • Supposedly, some blesmols can reach a weight of 1800 g.

• Russian Desman (Desmana moschata): 18-21 cm (up to 41 cm including the tail); 400-520 g

• Giant Armadillo (Priodontes maximus): up to 1.5 m; up to 50 kg

  • It spends all day in underground burrows though it hunts above ground at night.

• Olm (Proteus anguinus): up to 40 cm long.

^{Cape dune mole-rat}

^{Giant Armadillo}

The only info I could find via a quick search for prehistoric fossorial animals:

• A series of 240 million year old underground tunnels/chambers suggest some burrowing species lived there. [Source: Seeker].

  "You should imagine the tracemaker as a stout, short-bodied, four-legged animal with a short tail and short neck...The trunk was about 20-25 centimeters (8-10 inches) in length.

Bonus: How about the deepest living animal?

• That award goes to the "Devil Worm" (Halicephalobus mephisto), a nematode that has been found living at 3.6 km below the surface!! ...(tied w/ Plectus aquatilis).

• Though at 0.5 mm, it's definitely not winning the largest trophy :p.

^Citations:

^{- Lessa, E. P., Vassallo, A. I., Verzi, D. H., & Mora, M. S. (2008). Evolution of morphological adaptations for digging in living and extinct ctenomyid and octodontid rodents. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 95(2), 267-283.}

Key Words:

To aid in your search, you might want to try searching the term "Fossorial."

• Fossorial animals are animals that are adapted to digging and life underground.

  • Though note: Lessa et al (2008) use fossorial to describe species that spend a substantial fraction of their lives outside their burrows, while they use subterranean to describe species that perform most activities underground.

You might also want to examine a list of troglobites.

• Troglobites are animals that live entirely in the dark parts of caves.

Big Species

I think large specimens of @JayCkat's suggested species (Microchaetus rappi) will be tough to "beat", with large specimens reaching 6.7 m and 1.5 kg.

However, here's a list of other species anyways:

Some extant large species of fossorial animals:

• Cape dune mole-rat (Bathyergus suillus): 27-35 cm (up to 39cm including tail); 570-1350 g

  • Supposedly, some blesmols can reach a weight of 1800 g.

• Russian Desman (Desmana moschata): 18-21 cm (up to 41 cm including the tail); 400-520 g

• Giant Armadillo (Priodontes maximus): up to 1.5 m; up to 50 kg

  • It spends all day in underground burrows though it hunts above ground at night.

• Olm (Proteus anguinus): up to 40 cm long.

^{Cape dune mole-rat}

^{Giant Armadillo}

The only info I could find via a quick search for prehistoric fossorial animals:

• A series of 240 million year old underground tunnels/chambers suggest some burrowing species lived there. [Source: Seeker].

  "You should imagine the tracemaker as a stout, short-bodied, four-legged animal with a short tail and short neck...The trunk was about 20-25 centimeters (8-10 inches) in length.

Bonus: How about the deepest living animal?

• That award goes to the "Devil Worm" (Halicephalobus mephisto), a nematode that has been found living at 3.6 km below the surface!! ...(tied w/ Plectus aquatilis).

• Though at 0.5 mm, it's definitely not winning the largest trophy :p.

^Citations:

^{- Lessa, E. P., Vassallo, A. I., Verzi, D. H., & Mora, M. S. (2008). Evolution of morphological adaptations for digging in living and extinct ctenomyid and octodontid rodents. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 95(2), 267-283.}

Key Words:

To aid in your search, you might want to try searching the term "Fossorial."

• Fossorial animals are animals that are adapted to digging and life underground.

  • Though note: Lessa et al (2008) use fossorial to describe species that spend a substantial fraction of their lives outside their burrows, while they use subterranean to describe species that perform most activities underground.

You might also want to examine a list of troglobites.

• Troglobites are animals that live entirely in the dark parts of caves.

Big Species

I think large specimens of @JayCkat's suggested species (Microchaetus rappi) will be tough to "beat", with large specimens reaching 6.7 m and 1.5 kg.

However, here's a list of other species anyways:

Some extant large species of fossorial animals:

• Cape dune mole-rat (Bathyergus suillus): 27-35 cm (up to 39cm including tail); 570-1350 g

  • Supposedly, some blesmols can reach a weight of 1800 g.

• Russian Desman (Desmana moschata): 18-21 cm (up to 41 cm including the tail); 400-520 g

• Giant Armadillo (Priodontes maximus): up to 1.5 m; up to 50 kg

  • It spends all day in underground burrows though it hunts above ground at night.

• Olm (Proteus anguinus): up to 40 cm long.

^{Cape dune mole-rat}

^{Giant Armadillo}

The only info I could find via a quick search for prehistoric fossorial animals:

• A series of 240 million year old underground tunnels/chambers suggest some burrowing species lived there. [Source: Seeker].

  "You should imagine the tracemaker as a stout, short-bodied, four-legged animal with a short tail and short neck...The trunk was about 20-25 centimeters (8-10 inches) in length.

Bonus: How about the deepest living animal?

• That award goes to the "Devil Worm" (Halicephalobus mephisto), a nematode that has been found living at 3.6 km below the surface!! ...(tied w/ Plectus aquatilis).

• Though at 0.5 mm, it's definitely not winning the largest trophy :p.

^Citations:

^{- Lessa, E. P., Vassallo, A. I., Verzi, D. H., & Mora, M. S. (2008). Evolution of morphological adaptations for digging in living and extinct ctenomyid and octodontid rodents. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 95(2), 267-283.}

Key Words:

To aid in your search, you might want to try searching the term "Fossorial."

• Fossorial animals are animals that are adapted to digging and life underground.

  • Though note: Lessa et al (2008) use fossorial to describe species that spend a substantial fraction of their lives outside their burrows, while they use subterranean to describe species that perform most activities underground.

You might also want to examine a list of troglobites.

• Troglobites are animals that live entirely in the dark parts of caves.

Big Species

I think large specimens of @JayCkat's suggested species (Microchaetus rappi) will be tough to "beat", with large specimens reaching 6.7 m and 1.5 kg.

However, here's a list of other species anyways:

Some extant large species of fossorial animals:

• Cape dune mole-rat (Bathyergus suillus): 27-35 cm (up to 39cm including tail); 570-1350 g

  • Supposedly, some blesmols can reach a weight of 1800 g.

• Russian Desman (Desmana moschata): 18-21 cm (up to 41 cm including the tail); 400-520 g

• Giant Armadillo (Priodontes maximus): up to 1.5 m; up to 50 kg

  • It spends all day in underground burrows though it hunts above ground at night.

• Olm (Proteus anguinus): up to 40 cm long.

^{Cape dune mole-rat}

^{Giant Armadillo}

The only info I could find via a quick search for prehistoric fossorial animals:

• A series of 240 million year old underground tunnels/chambers suggest some burrowing species lived there. [Source: Seeker].

  "You should imagine the tracemaker as a stout, short-bodied, four-legged animal with a short tail and short neck...The trunk was about 20-25 centimeters (8-10 inches) in length.

Bonus: How about the deepest living animal?

• That award goes to the "Devil Worm" (Halicephalobus mephisto), a nematode that has been found living at 3.6 km below the surface!! ...(tied w/ Plectus aquatilis).

• Though at 0.5 mm, it's definitely not winning the largest trophy :p.

^Citations:

^{- Lessa, E. P., Vassallo, A. I., Verzi, D. H., & Mora, M. S. (2008). Evolution of morphological adaptations for digging in living and extinct ctenomyid and octodontid rodents. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 95(2), 267-283.}

Key Words:

To aid in your search, you might want to try searching the term "Fossorial".

• Fossorial animals are animals that are adapted to digging and life underground.

  • Though note: Lessa et al (2008) use fossorial to describe species that spend a substantial fraction of their lives outside their burrows, while they use subterranean to describe species that perform most activities underground.

You might also want to examine a list of troglobites.

• Troglobites are animals that live entirely in the dark parts of caves.

Big Species

I think large specimens of @JayCkat's suggested species (Microchaetus rappi) will be tough to "beat", with large specimens reaching 6.7 m and 1.5 kg.

However, here's a list of other species anyways:

Some extant large species of fossorial animals:

• Cape dune mole-rat (Bathyergus suillus): 27-35 cm (up to 39cm including tail); 570-1350 g

  • Supposedly, some blesmols can reach a weight of 1800 g.

• Russian Desman (Desmana moschata): 18-21 cm (up to 41 cm including the tail); 400-520 g

• Giant Armadillo (Priodontes maximus): up to 1.5 m; up to 50 kg

  • It spends all day in underground burrows though it hunts above ground at night.

• Olm (Proteus anguinus): up to 40 cm long.

^{Cape dune mole-rat}

^{Giant Armadillo}

The only info I could find via a quick search for prehistoric fossorial animals:

• A series of 240 million year old underground tunnels/chambers suggest some burrowing species lived there. [Source: Seeker].

  "You should imagine the tracemaker as a stout, short-bodied, four-legged animal with a short tail and short neck...The trunk was about 20-25 centimeters (8-10 inches) in length.

Bonus: How about the deepest living animal?

• That award goes to the "Devil Worm" (Halicephalobus mephisto), a nematode that has been found living at 3.6 km below the surface!! ...(tied w/ Plectus aquatilis).

• Though at 0.5 mm, it's definitely not winning the largest trophy :p.

^Citations:

^{- Lessa, E. P., Vassallo, A. I., Verzi, D. H., & Mora, M. S. (2008). Evolution of morphological adaptations for digging in living and extinct ctenomyid and octodontid rodents. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 95(2), 267-283.}

Key Words:

To aid in your search, you might want to try searching the term "Fossorial."

• Fossorial animals are animals that are adapted to digging and life underground.

  • Though note: Lessa et al (2008) use fossorial to describe species that spend a substantial fraction of their lives outside their burrows, while they use subterranean to describe species that perform most activities underground.

You might also want to examine a list of troglobites.

• Troglobites are animals that live entirely in the dark parts of caves.

Big Species

I think large specimens of @JayCkat's suggested species (Microchaetus rappi) will be tough to "beat", with large specimens reaching 6.7 m and 1.5 kg.

However, here's a list of other species anyways:

Some extant large species of fossorial animals:

• Cape dune mole-rat (Bathyergus suillus): 27-35 cm (up to 39cm including tail); 570-1350 g

  • Supposedly, some blesmols can reach a weight of 1800 g.

• Russian Desman (Desmana moschata): 18-21 cm (up to 41 cm including the tail); 400-520 g

• Giant Armadillo (Priodontes maximus): up to 1.5 m; up to 50 kg

  • It spends all day in underground burrows though it hunts above ground at night.

• Olm (Proteus anguinus): up to 40 cm long.

^{Cape dune mole-rat}

^{Giant Armadillo}

The only info I could find via a quick search for prehistoric fossorial animals:

• A series of 240 million year old underground tunnels/chambers suggest some burrowing species lived there. [Source: Seeker].

  "You should imagine the tracemaker as a stout, short-bodied, four-legged animal with a short tail and short neck...The trunk was about 20-25 centimeters (8-10 inches) in length.

Bonus: How about the deepest living animal?

• That award goes to the "Devil Worm" (Halicephalobus mephisto), a nematode that has been found living at 3.6 km below the surface!! ...(tied w/ Plectus aquatilis).

• Though at 0.5 mm, it's definitely not winning the largest trophy :p.

^Citations:

^{- Lessa, E. P., Vassallo, A. I., Verzi, D. H., & Mora, M. S. (2008). Evolution of morphological adaptations for digging in living and extinct ctenomyid and octodontid rodents. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 95(2), 267-283.}