Platacanthomyidae

Taxobox
name = Platacanthomyines
fossil_range = Early Miocene - Recent
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Mammalia
ordo = Rodentia
superfamilia = Muroidea
familia = Platacanthomyidae
familia_authority = Alston, 1876
subdivision_ranks = Genera
subdivision = †"Neocometes"
"Platacanthomys"
"Typhlomys"The rodent family Platacanthomyidae, or Oriental Dormice, includes the spiny dormice and the Chinese pygmy dormice. In spite of their appearance, these animals are not true dormice, but are part of the large and complex superfamily Muroidea. The platacanthomyids can be distinguished from the true dormice, because they have no premolars, giving them three cheek teeth, like their relatives, the Muroidea.

The evolutionary relationship of the Platacanthomyidae to the rest of the Muroidea is very uncertain and they are most appropriately termed "incertae sedis". This is the only subfamily of muroids that has yet to be included in a molecular phylogenetic study. They can be distinguished from both the family Spalacidae and the Eumuroida (all non-spalacid and non-platacanthomyid muroids), by the distinct shape of their infraorbital canal and by the presence of multiple openings in the palate of the skull. On the basis of these two characteristics, they have been considered to be distinct from all other muroids. More work is needed to determine the evolutionary position of this subfamily.

The Platacanthomyidae contains two genera, and three species.

Taxonomy

*Family Platacanthomyidae
**Genus †"Neocometes"
***†"Neocometes brunonis"
***†"Neocometes orientalis"
***†"Neocometes similis"
**Genus "Platacanthomys" (spiny dormouse)
***†"Platacanthomys dianensis"
***"Platacanthomys lasiurus" (spiny dormouse)
**Genus "Typhlomys" Pygmy dormice
***"Typhlomys cinereus" (Chinese pygmy dormouse)
***†"Typhlomys hipparionium"
***†"Typhlomys intermedius"
***†"Typhlomys macrourus"
***†"Typhlomys primitivus"

References

*Musser, G. G. and M. D. Carleton. 2005. Superfamily Muroidea. Pp. 894-1531 "in" Mammal Species of the World a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. D. E. Wilson and D. M. Reeder eds. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.

*Norris, R. W., K. Y. Zhou, C. Q. Zhou, G. Yang, C. W. Kilpatrick, and R. L. Honeycutt. 2004. The phylogenetic position of the zokors (Myospalacinae) and comments on the families of muroids (Rodentia). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 31:972-978.

*Nowak, R. M. 1999. Walker's Mammals of the World, Vol. 2. Johns Hopkins University Press, London.

*Steppan, S. J., R. A. Adkins, and J. Anderson. 2004. Phylogeny and divergence date estimates of rapid radiations in muroid rodents based on multiple nuclear genes. Systematic Biology, 53:533-553.