Platacanthomyidae
| Platacanthomyids Temporal range: Early Miocene – Recent
| |
|---|---|
| |
| Malabar spiny dormouse, Platacanthomys lasiurus | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Superfamily: | Muroidea |
| Family: | Platacanthomyidae Alston, 1876 |
| Type genus | |
Platacanthomys
, 1859 | |
| Genera | |
|
†Neocometes | |
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 was uncertain until a molecular phylogenetic study found it to be the earliest extant lineage to branch within the superfamily
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 contain three
.Taxonomy
- Family Platacanthomyidae
- Genus †Neocometes
- Genus Platacanthomys(spiny dormice)
- †Platacanthomys dianensis
- Platacanthomys lasiurus(spiny dormouse)
- Genus Typhlomys(pygmy dormice)
- Typhlomys cinereus(Chinese pygmy dormouse)
- Typhlomys nanus
- †Typhlomys hipparionium
- †Typhlomys intermedius
- †Typhlomys macrourus
- †Typhlomys primitivus
References
Further reading
- 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.