This rodent occurs in southern Africa. It is mainly active around dawn and dusk and uses consolidated sandy ground in sparsely vegetated semidesert. An 1849 description records a pale yellow-brown back finely flecked with dark brown and a pale belly.
Smith described the back as pale isabelline with fine black-brown markings, the sides as greyish white pencilled with brown, and the underside as dingy white with a slight ochre tint.
The regional Red List calls the species largely crepuscular and records it on consolidated sands in semidesert with low plant cover. In the Kalahari it occurs in dune swales associated with Driedoring.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.