Comments: | Currently divided into three subfamilies: Dipodomyinae containing the Recent genera Dipodomys and Microdipodops, Heteromyinae with Heteromys and Liomys, and Perognathinae comprised of Chaetodipus and Perognathus. Content defined by Wood (1935), Hafner and Hafner (1983), Wahlert (1985, 1993), and Korth (1994). Considered as a subfamily in the family Geomyidae (along with the extant pocket gophers, Geomyinae, and fossil Entotychinae) by McKenna and Bell (1997), following earlier suggestions of Shotwell (1967b) and Lindsay (1972), with the subfamilies recognized here lowered to the rank of tribes. The hierarchical rank of both heteromyids and geomyids is partly a matter of taxonomic philosophy but it is also a decision that stems from the phylogenetic placement of the fossil entotychines. I accept the evidence presented by Wahlert (1988) and Korth (1994) that entotychines are the sister to the modern pocket gophers, and thus follow their arguments for maintaining the traditional separation of the Heteromyidae as a family apart from the Geomyidae in the accounts here. Syntheses of the taxonomy, systematics, morphological diversity, cytogenetics, molecular genetics, and other aspects of the biology of living and fossil heteromyids can be found in Genoways and Brown (1993). Of particular note, Williams et al. (1993) provide a synopsis of the taxonomy of species and subspecies, with keys to all extant genera and species recognized at that time. |