[5] Named for Yatiyo Yonenaga-Yassuda, a cytogenetics researcher,[2] it is considered an endangered species due to its highly restricted distribution and ongoing habitat loss.

[1] Genetic evidence shows that it diverged from its closest living relative, the hairy Atlantic spiny rat, around 8.5 million years ago, during the Late Miocene.

[5] Yonenaga's Atlantic spiny rat is known only from an approximately 130 kilometres (81 mi) stretch of the west bank of the São Francisco River in Bahia state, Brazil.

[10] Despite living in a hot, dry, and sandy environment, Yonenaga's Atlantic spiny rat has few of the anatomic and physiologic adaptations expected of a desert-dwelling animal[11] and instead relies on its behaviour to avoid the worst of the local conditions.

[2] The burrows are shared communally, typically located in valleys between sand dunes where plants can provide local shade, and may extend 15 metres (49 ft) below the surface.

[13][7] As vision is limited in their environment, in addition to vocal communication[14] and drumming with their feet as warning signals,[7] they rely on scents from anal glands to provide cues to identify and discern intentions of other rodents in the colony.