Jointed Pricklypear vs Marley’s Golden Mole

Opuntia aurantiaca compared with Amblysomus marleyi

Key Differences

• Jointed Pricklypear is Least Concern while Marley’s Golden Mole is Endangered.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Jointed Pricklypear	Marley’s Golden Mole
Kingdom	Plantae (Plants)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)	Chordata (Chordates)
Class	Magnoliopsida (Dicots)	Mammalia (Mammals)
Order	Caryophyllales (Caryophyllales)	Afrosoricida (Afrosoricida)
Family	Cactaceae	Chrysochloridae
Genus	Opuntia	Amblysomus
Species	Opuntia aurantiaca	Amblysomus marleyi

Conservation Status

Jointed Pricklypear

LC — Least Concern

Marley’s Golden Mole

EN — Endangered

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Jointed Pricklypear	Marley’s Golden Mole
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Jointed Pricklypear

Habitat

Inhabits flooded grasslands and savannas and deserts and xeric shrublands within the Afrotropic biogeographic realm.

Range

Distributed across Australia, Eswatini, Jamaica, Namibia, and South Africa.

Marley’s Golden Mole

Habitat

Typically found in diverse terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.