Heteromyidae

(vertebrate zoology) A family of the mammalian order Rodentia containing the North American kangaroo mice and the pocket mice.

(Heteromyidae)

Class: Mammalia

Order: Rodentia

Suborder: Sciurograthi

Family: Heteromyidae

Thumbnail description
Small to medium nocturnal, seed-eating rodents with external, fur-lined cheek pouches, bipedal locomotion in the kangaroo rats and mice and quadrupedal locomotion in pocket mice. Rudimentary social structure; sandbathing cleans the hair and deposits scent for communication; the medium and larger sized kangaroo rats communicate by footdrumming

Size
1.7–14.6 in (42–370 mm) total length, weight: 0.2–6.9 oz (5–195 g)

Number of genera, species:
6 genera, 60 species

Habitat
Desert, grasslands, and forest

Conservation status
Critically Endangered: 4 species; Endangered: 1 species; Vulnerable: 1 species; Lower Risk/Conservation Dependent: 1 species; Lower Risk/Near Threatened: 8 species

Distribution
Western United States, Mexico, Central America, and northern South America

Evolution and systematics

Heteromyid rodents have a long evolutionary history in North America. Hafner (1993) proposes that heteromyids diverged from their nearest relative, the subterranean pocket gopher, Geomyidae, in the Oligocene over 30 million years ago. The divergence continued as the climate of North America became increasingly cool and arid into the three distinct subfamilies and six genera extant today. Five genera diverged into multiple species in North America while one genus, Heteromys, entered South America. Corbet and Hill (1991) list seven species of spiny pocket mice, Liomys, and five species of forest spiny pocket mice, Heteromys, in the subfamily Heteromyinae. The subfamily Perognathinae consists of 16 species of silky pocket mice, Perognathus, and nine species of coarse-haired pocket mice, Chaetodipus). The third subfamily, Dipodomyinae, includes 21 species of kangaroo rats, Dipodomys, and two species of kangaroo mice, Microdipodops.

Physical characteristics

Heteromyids are frequently associated with the specialized morphology of kangaroo rats (weight: 1.2–6.9 oz; 33–195 g), and, to a lesser extent, the smaller kangaroo mice (0.4–0.6 oz; 10–17 g). Like kangaroos, kangaroo rats and mice move in long powerful jumps on elongated hind limbs and feet. They have especially long, beautiful tails with white tips or tufts on the end that are used for balance, and sometimes as flags. A much more generalized body type occurs in the pocket mice. Heteromys and Liomys are rat-like rodents (weights: 1.29–3.0 oz or 36.6–85.4 g and 1.2–1.8 oz or 34–50 g respectively) that have a standard quadrupedal locomotion and lack the specialized features of other species. The smaller desert pocket mice (body weights range 0.2–1.1 oz [5–31 g] in Perognathus, and 0.4–1.7 oz [10–47 g] in Chaetodipus) are quite diverse. Although they have relatively long feet, they are poor jumpers and exhibit quadrupedal locomotion. All heteromyids have external fur-lined cheek pouches that open anterior to the mouth and are nocturnal with fairly large eyes. Ears are short and rounded. Kangaroo rats and mice have inflated auditory bullae and extremely keen hearing in the low to mid-frequency ranges. The pelage varies in texture from silky and soft in kangaroo rats and mice and silky pocket mice to spiny in Liomys and Chaetodipus. Pelage color varies considerably from light to dark. Maximum longevity for these small mammals is 10 years or more.

Distribution

Schmidley et al. (1993) identify five general regions occupied by heteromyid rodents in North, Central and South America. Tropical species occur in the northern neotropical areas of Mexico, Central and northwestern South America. Heteromys is confined to moist areas of Mexico, and central and northern South America; Liomys inhabits parts of Mexico and Central America. The other four regions are arid and semiarid areas of North America in the Great Plains, the Great Basin desert, southwestern Mojave, Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts, and California. Perognathus and Chaetodipus occur in all four arid regions. Perognathus ranges as far north as British Columbia and Saskatchewan throughout the central and western United States southward to Mexico. Chaetodipus occupies the Lower Sonoran area of the western United States north into the Great Basin. Microdipodops is primarily restricted to the Great Basin desert in Nevada. Dipodomys are widespread and inhabit arid areas from the Pacific coast north to southern Canada, east to the Great Plains and south through western Texas into Mexico. California has a diverse distribution of kangaroo rats and pocket mice in the southern Mojave Desert, coastal transition zones, and the Central Valley. Twelve of 21 species of kangaroo rat are found in California, and eight of these species occur either only or primarily there.

Habitat

Desert pocket mice and kangaroo rats inhabit a variety of arid habitats consisting of wind-blown sand, sagebrush, desert scrub, grassland, creosote bush flats, rocky hillsides, and chaparral. In contrast, kangaroo mice are mainly restricted to sandy habitats. A characteristic of heteromyid communities is their complexity in which multiple species co-exist. Brown and Harney (1993) describe a community in the Great Basin desert in Nevada composed of three species of kangaroo rat (D. deserti, D. merriami, D. ordii), a kangaroo mouse (M. pallidus), and a pocket mouse (P. longimembris). Heteromys occupies tropical wet forests, and Liomys is found in tropical dry forests and thorn scrub. In contrast with the high diversity of heteromyids in desert habitats, Sanchez-Cordero and Fleming (1993) note the low diversity of species in tropical habitats, probably a result of deserts being more productive in seeds, the main food source for all heteromyid rodents.

Behavior

Resources

Brown, J. H., and B. A. Harney. "Population and Community Ecology of Heteromyid Rodents in Temperate Habitats." In Biology of the Heteromyidae, edited by Hugh H. Genoways and James H. Brown. Special Publication No. 10. Lawrence, KS: The American Society of Mammalogists, 1993.

Corbet, G. B., and J. E. Hill. A World List of Mammalian Species. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991.

Eisenberg, John F. "The Behavior Patterns of Desert Rodents." In Rodents in a Desert Environment, edited by I. Praakash and P. K. Ghosh. The Hague: Dr. W. Junk. 1975.

Hafner, John C. "Macroevolutionary Diversification in Heteromyid Rodents: Heterochrony and Adaptation in Phylogeny." In Biology of the Heteromyidae, edited by Hugh H. Genoways and James H. Brown. Special Publication No.10. Lawrence, KS: The American Society of Mammalogists, 1993.

Kays, R. W., and D. E. Wilson. Mammals of North America. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002.

Nowak, Robert M. Walker Mammals of the World. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999.

Sanchez-Cordero, V., and T. H. Fleming. "Ecology of Tropical Heteromyids." In Biology of the Heteromyidae, edited by Hugh H. Genoways and James H. Brown. Special Publication No. 10. Lawrence, KS: The American Society of Mammalogists: 1993.

Schmidly, D.J., K. T. Walkins, and J. N. Derr. "Biogeography." In Biology of the Heteromyidae, edited by Hugh H. Genoways and James H. Brown. Special Publication No. 10. Lawrence, KS: The American Society of Mammalogists: 1993.

Eisenberg, John F. "The Behavior of Heteromyid Rodents." University of California Publications in Zoology 69 (1963): 1–100.

Goldingay, R. L., P. A. Kelly, and D. F. Williams. "The Kangaroo Rats of California: Endemism and Conservation of Keystone Species." Pacific Conservation Biology 3 (1997): 47–60.

Kenagy, G. J. "Adaptations for Leaf Eating in the Great Basin Kangaroo Rat, Dipodomys microps." Oecologia 12 (1973): 383–412.

Perri, L. M., and J. A. Randall. "Behavioral Mechanisms of Coexistence in Sympatric Species of Desert Rodents, Dipodomys ordii and D. merriami." Journal of Mammalogy 80 (1999): 1297–1310.

Randall, Jan A. "Behavioural Adaptations of Desert Animals (Heteromyidae)." Animal Behaviour 45 (1993): 263–287. ——. "Convergences and Divergences in Social Organization and Communication in Desert. Rodents." Australian Journal of Zoology 42 (1994): 405–433. ——. "Evolution and Function of Drumming as Communication in Mammals." American Zoologist 41 (2001): 91–104. ——. "Mating Strategies of a Nocturnal Desert Rodent (Dipodomys spectabilis)." Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 28 (1991): 215–220.

Randall, J. A., and M. Matocq. "Why Do Kangaroo Rats Footdrum in the Presence of Snakes?" Behavioral Ecology 8 (1997): 404–413.

Randall, J. A., E. R. Hekkala, L. D. Cooper, and J. Barfield. "Familiarity and Flexible Mating Strategies of a Solitary Rodent, Dipodomys ingens." Animal Behaviour 64 (2002): 11–21.

The American Society of Mammalogists. Web site:

IUCN—The World Conservation Union. Rue Mauverney 28, Gland, 1196 Switzerland. Phone: +41 (22) 999 0000. Fax: +41 (22) 999 0002. E-mail: mail@hq.iucn.org Web site:

United States Fish and Wildlife Service. Web site:

[Article by: Jan A. Randall, PhD]

The noun has one meaning:

Meaning #1: small New World burrowing mouselike rodents with fur-lined cheek pouches and hind limbs and tail adapted to leaping; adapted to desert conditions: pocket mice; kangaroo mice; kangaroo rats
  Synonym: family Heteromyidae

Heteromyids Fossil range: Early Miocene - Recent
Dipodomys ordii
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Rodentia Superfamily: Geomyoidea Family: Heteromyidae Gray, 1868
Subfamilies
Dipodomyinae Heteromyinae Perognathinae

The family of rodents that include kangaroo rats, kangaroo mice and rock pocket mice is the Heteromyidae family. Most heteromyids live in complex burrows within the deserts and grasslands of western North America, though species within the Heteromys and Liomys genera are also found in forests and extend down as far as northern South America. They feed mostly on seeds and other plant parts, which they carry in their cheek pouches to their burrows.

Although they are very different in physical appearance, the closest relatives of the heteromyids are pocket gophers in the Geomyidae family.

Taxonomy

• Family Heteromyidae
  • Subfamily Heteromyinae
    • Genus Heteromys
    • Genus Liomys
  • Subfamily Dipodomyinae
    • Genus Dipodomys
    • Genus Microdipodops
  • Subfamily Perognathinae
    • Genus Perognathus
  • Genus Chaetodipus incertae sedis

References

• Alexander, L. F. and B. R. Riddle. 2005. Phylogenetics of the New World rodent family Heteromyidae. Journal of Mammalogy, 86:399-379.

External links

• http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Heteromyidae.html

Rodent Families

Sciuromorpha: †Allomyidae | Aplodontiidae | †Mylagaulidae | †Reithroparamyidae | Sciuridae | Gliridae

Castorimorpha: †Eutypomyidae | Castoridae | †Rhizospalacidae | †Eomyidae | †Florentiamyidae | †Heliscomyidae | †Mojavemyidae | Heteromyidae | Geomyidae

Myomorpha: †Armintomidae | Dipodidae | †Anomalomyidae | †Simimyidae | Platacanthomyidae | Spalacidae | Calomyscidae | Nesomyidae | Cricetidae | Muridae

Anomaluromorpha: Anomaluridae | †Parapedetidae | Pedetidae

Hystricomorpha: †Tamquammyidae | †Gobiomyidae | Ctenodactylidae | Diatomyidae | †Yuomyidae | †Chapattimyidae | †Tsaganomyidae | †"Baluchimyinae" | †Bathyergoididae | Bathyergidae | Hystricidae | †Myophiomyidae | †Diamantomyidae | †Phiomyidae | †Kenyamyidae | Petromuridae | Thryonomyidae | Erethizontidae | Chinchillidae | Dinomyidae | Caviidae | Dasyproctidae | †Eocardiidae | Cuniculidae | Ctenomyidae | Octodontidae | †Neoepiblemidae | Abrocomidae | Echimyidae | Myocastoridae | Capromyidae | †Heptaxodontidae

Prehistoric rodents (incertae sedis): †Eurymylidae | †Cocomyidae | †Alagomyidae | †Archetypomyidae | †Ivanantoniidae | †Laredomyidae | †Ischyromyidae | †Theridomyidae | †Protoptychidae | †Zegdoumyidae | †Sciuravidae | †Cylindrodontidae | †Zelomyidae

† indicates extinct taxa

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