HOME --> CLASS MAMMALIA
--> ORDER RODENTIA
--> SUBORDER HYSTRICOMORPHA
--> INFRAORDER HYSTRICOGNATHI
FAMILY Heptaxodontidae
Author: | Anthony, 1917. | Citation: | Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 37(4): 183. | Comments: | Known only from sub-Recent fossils from Greater and N Lesser Antilles (Woods, 1989a). Whether Amblyrhiza and Clidomys became extinct before or after humans arrived in the West Indies is debatable. This family is often placed near the Chinchillidae based on similar laminar plates of molariform teeth. One genus (Quemisia) is very similar in dental morphology to capromyids, however, and it is possible to derive all of the conditions seen in heptaxodontids from dental patterns found within the Capromyidae. This family should be placed adjacent to the Capromyidae. |
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