Heteromyidae

Taxobox
name = Heteromyids
fossil_range = Early Miocene - Recent


image_width = 240px
image_caption = "Dipodomys ordii"
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Mammalia
ordo = Rodentia
superfamilia = Geomyoidea
familia = Heteromyidae
familia_authority = Gray, 1868
subdivision_ranks = Subfamilies
subdivision =
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 to their burrowscite book |editor=Macdonald, D.|author= Fleming, Theodore|year=1984 |title= The Encyclopedia of Mammals|publisher= Facts on File|location=New York|pages= 632-633|isbn= 0-87196-871-1] .

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:
*Family Heteromyidae
**Subfamily Heteromyinae
***Genus "Heteromys" (including "Liomys")
**Subfamily Dipodomyinae
***Genus "Dipodomys"
***Genus "Microdipodops"
**Subfamily Perognathinae
***Genus "Perognathus"
***Genus "Chaetodipus"

Clade |
label1=Heteromyidae
1=Clade
label1=Dipodomyinae
1=Clade
1="Dipodomys"
2="Microdipodops"
label2=
2=Clade
1="Heteromys"
label2=Perognathinae
2=Clade
1="Perognathus"
2="Chaetodipus"

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

References

*Alexander, L. F. and B. R. Riddle. 2005. Phylogenetics of the New World rodent family Heteromyidae. Journal of Mammalogy, 86:399-379.
*Hafner, J. C. J. E. Light, D. J. Hafner, M. S. Hafner, E. Reddington, D. S. Rogers, and B. R. Riddle. 2007. Basal clades and molecular systematics of heteromyid rodents. Journal of Mammalogy, 88:1129-1145.
*Patton, J. L. 2005. Family Heteromyidae. Pp. 844-858 "in" Mammal Species of the World a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. D. E. Wilson and D. M. Reeder eds. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.

External links

*http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Heteromyidae.html