Mesomys
Genus of mammals belonging to the spiny rat family of rodents
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mesomys is a genus of South American spiny rats in the family Echimyidae.[1]
| Mesomys | |
|---|---|
| |
| Ferreira's spiny tree-rat | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Echimyidae |
| Subfamily: | Echimyinae |
| Tribe: | Echimyini |
| Genus: | Mesomys Wagner, 1845 |
| Type species | |
| Mesomys ecaudatus | |
| Species | |
|
Mesomys hispidus | |
The genus name Mesomys derives from the two ancient greek words μέσος (mésos), meaning "middle of, between", and μῦς (mûs), meaning "mouse, rat".[2][3] It refers to the fact that these rodents — literally the "middle mouse" — were considered an intermediate form between the genus Loncheres and the genus Echinomys, both of which are now known to be synonyms of Echimys.[4][5]
Extant species
| Image | Scientific name | Common name | Distribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mesomys hispidus | Ferreira's spiny tree-rat | Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela | |
| Mesomys leniceps | Woolly-headed spiny tree-rat | Peru | |
| Mesomys occultus | Tufted-tailed spiny tree-rat | Brazil | |
| Mesomys stimulax | Pará spiny tree-rat | Brazil. | |
Phylogeny
Mesomys is a member of the Echimyini clade of arboreal Echimyidae rodents.[6] The closest relative of Mesomys is Lonchothrix, reflecting the fact that these taxa have once been classified in the Eumysopinae,[1] a subfamily now recognized as an artificial assemblage.[7] These two genera share phylogenetic affinities with several taxa and clades: (i) Echimys, Phyllomys, Makalata, Pattonomys, and Toromys ; (ii) the bamboo rats Dactylomys, Olallamys, Kannabateomys together with Diplomys and Santamartamys ; and (iii) Isothrix.[8]
| Genus-level cladogram of the Echimyini. |
| The cladogram has been reconstructed from mitochondrial and nuclear DNA characters.[9][10][11][12][7][13][14][15][6][8] |