Four (or perhaps five) species of insectivores are present in the Early Miocene strata of the Northern Sperrgebiet, two hedgehogs, one tenrecoid and one (possibly two) chrysochloroid. The currently understood diversity of insectivores in Early Miocene deposits of Namibia is lower than that of similarly aged deposits in East Africa where seven genera (eight species) have been recorded. At present erinaceid, tenrecoid and chrysochloroid diversity is much greater in Southern Africa than it is in the tropics, the opposite of the situation in the early Miocene. This difference may well be due to a bias in the fossil record of southern Africa where insectivores are rare and, for the most part, poorly preserved. A specimen of the large hedgehog Gymnurechinus collected at Grillental comprises associated upper and lower jaws and several post-cranial bones. The latter include elements of the ankle and foot that have not previously been available for study, and they reveal that the ankle joint, metapodials and phalanges were more elongated and more gracile than in Erinaceus suggesting a more cursorial locomotor repertoire. A pair of caudal vertebra suggests that the tail in this genus was longer than in spiny hedgehogs.