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Protrogomorph, sciuromorph, castorimorph, myomorph (geomyoid, anomaluroid, pedetoid, and ctenodactyloid) rodents. Kangaroo rats were first seen in the Pliocene, at a time when the drylands occupied by the majority of modern species were widespread in North America.įeldhamer, G. Heteromyids are first known from the Oligocene.

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Kangaroo rats have a remarkable ability to live without access to free water. Most species burrow, forming complex tunnel systems with multiple chambers and openings to the surface. They gather seeds in their cheek pouches and store them in their burrows for later consumption. Heteromyids feed on seeds and other plant parts, but they sometimes also include some animal matter. Its color varies considerably among species and geographically within species, often matching the color of the soil on which the animals live. The pelage of heteromyids varies in texture from silky and soft to spiny.

The molars have a distinctive 2-lobed pattern in most species. Their dental formula is 1/1, 0/0, 1/1, 3/3 = 20, and their cheek teeth are hyposodont (but not evergrowing except in kangaroo rats). Zygomatic plate and a small infraorbital foramen. Heteromyids are sciuromorphous and sciurognathus, and they have a well developed Opening of the infraorbital canal is sunk into a vacuity that penetrates the Their skulls vary considerably, but all are thin and papery and lack well developed ridges and crests (very unlike the robust skulls of related geomyids). They are found in both wet and dry tropical forests in Mexico south to northern South America.Īll heteromyids have a large, furlined cheek pouch that opens next to the mouth and extends back along the shoulders. Members of the genera Heteromys and Liomys are even less modified their locomotion is quadrupedal. Pocket mice are smaller, and while they are saltatorial, their hind limbs are not as modified as those of kangaroo rats and their locomotion is primarily quadrupedal. These heteromyids also have enormously enlargedīullae. They move primarily by hopping on their hind limbs. The hind limbs are lengthened mostly by an increase in length of the metatarsals and digits, and these feet are further specialized by the near loss of the first digit. These include kangaroo rats and mice, which are strikingly modified for jumping with long, powerful hind limbs a long and tufted tail relatively short front limbs and compressed, partly fused neck vertebrae. Many species live in the deserts and dry grasslands of the western United States and Canada. Heteromyids are small to medium-sized rodents. They are found in western North America, throughout Mexico and Central America, and in northwestern South America.

There are approximately 59 members of this family, allocated to 6 genera.

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