Heteromyidae

Heteromyids
Temporal range: Early Miocene–Recent
Dipodomys nitratoides
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Superfamily: Geomyoidea
Family: Heteromyidae
Gray, 1868
Subfamilies

Dipodomyinae
Heteromyinae
Perognathinae

The family of rodents that include kangaroo rats, kangaroo mice and rock pocket mice is the Heteromyidae family. Most heteromyids live in complex burrows within the deserts and grasslands of western North America, though species within the Heteromys and Liomys genera are also found in forests and extend down as far as northern South America. They feed mostly on seeds and other plant parts, which they carry in their cheek pouches[1] to their burrows.[2]

Although they are very different in physical appearance, the closest relatives of the heteromyids are pocket gophers in the Geomyidae family.

Taxonomy

Hafner et al. (2007) summarized the molecular and morphological data to date and proposed the following taxonomy:

Heteromyidae
Dipodomyinae

Dipodomys


Microdipodops




Heteromys

Perognathinae

Perognathus


Chaetodipus




Most authorities prior to this (Alexander and Riddle, 2005; Patton, 2005) treat Liomys as a distinct genus from Heteromys.

References

  1. ^ Morton, S.R.; D. S. Hinds and R. E. MacMillen. (1980). "Cheek pouch capacity in heteromyid rodents". Oecologia 46 (2): 143–146. doi:10.1007/BF00540118. 
  2. ^ Fleming, Theodore (1984). Macdonald, D.. ed. The Encyclopedia of Mammals. New York: Facts on File. pp. 632–633. ISBN 0-87196-871-1. 

External links

Extant families in order Rodentia
Kingdom: Animalia · Phylum: Chordata · Class: Mammalia · Infraclass: Eutheria · Superorder: Euarchontoglires
Sciuromorpha
("Squirrel-like")
Castorimorpha
("Beaver-like")
Castoroidea: Castoridae (Beavers)
Geomyoidea: Geomyidae (Pocket gophers) · Heteromyidae (Kangaroo rats and mice, pocket mice)
Myomorpha
("Mouse-like")
Anomaluromorpha
("Anomalure-like")
Hystricomorpha
("Porcupine-like")