Chinchilla rat

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For alternative meanings see Chinchilla (disambiguation).

Chinchilla rats
Fossil range: Late Miocene - Recent

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Rodentia
Suborder:	Hystricomorpha
Infraorder:	Caviomorpha
Family:	Abrocomidae Miller and Gidley, 1918

Genera

Abrocoma
Cuscomys
†Protabrocoma

Chinchilla rats are members of the family Abrocomidae. They resemble Chinchillas (to which they are closely related) in appearance but have a body-structure more like a rat. Some molecular work (Huchon and Douzery, 2001), however, suggests that they may be more closely related to octodontoids such as degus, nutria, and tuco-tucos than to chinchillas and viscachas. All species of chinchilla rat live in the Andes Mountains of South America and are probably herbivorous, although this is not clear.

[edit] Species

Family Abrocomidae - chinchilla rats
- †Protabrocoma
  - †Protabrocoma antigua
- Abrocoma
  - Abrocoma bennettii - Bennett's Chinchilla Rat
  - Abrocoma boliviensis - Bolivian Chinchilla Rat
  - Abrocoma budini
  - Abrocoma cinerea - Ashy Chinchilla Rat
  - Abrocoma famatina
  - Abrocoma schistacea
  - Abrocoma uspallata
  - Abrocoma vaccarum
- Cuscomys
  - †Cuscomys oblativus
  - Cuscomys ashaninka

[edit] References

Braun, J. K. and M. A. Mares. 2002. Systematics of the Abrocoma cinerea species complex (Rodentia: Abrocomidae), with a description of a new species of Abrocoma. Journal of Mammalogy, 83:1-19.
Emmons, L. H. 1999. A new genus and species of abrocomid rodent from Peru (Rodentia: Abrocomidae). American Museum Novitas, 3279:1-14.
Huchon, D. and E. J. P. Douzery. 2001. From the Old World to the New World: a molecular chronicle of the phylogeny and biogeography of hystricognath rodents. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 20:238-251.