Plagiodontia
Genus of mammals belonging to the hutia subfamily of rodents
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Plagiodontia is a genus of rodent in the subfamily Capromyinae (hutias). All known species are endemic to the Caribbean island of Hispaniola (in the present-day Dominican Republic and Haiti).
| Plagiodontia | |
|---|---|
| |
| Hispaniolan hutia (P. aedium) | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Infraclass: | Placentalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Echimyidae |
| Subfamily: | Capromyinae |
| Tribe: | Plagiodontini |
| Genus: | Plagiodontia F. Cuvier, 1836 |
| Type species | |
| Plagiodontia aedium F. Cuvier, 1836 | |
| Species | |
|
Plagiodontia aedium | |
The genus name Plagiodontia means "oblique tooth", and derives from the two ancient greek words πλάγιος (plágios), meaning "placed sideways", and ὀδούς, ὀδόντος (odoús, odóntos), meaning "tooth".[1][2]
Systematics
This genus contains the following three species (two of them extinct):
- Hispaniolan hutia (Plagiodontia aedium) F. Cuvier, 1836
- † Samaná hutia (Plagiodontia ipnaeum) Johnson, 1948
- † Plagiodontia spelaeum Miller, 1929
Phylogeny
Within Capromyidae, Plagiodontia is the deepest branching genus, belonging to the tribe Plagiodontini. It is the sister group to the other genera Geocapromys, Mesocapromys, Mysateles and Capromys, all belonging to the tribe Capromyini.
| Genus-level cladogram of the Capromyidae with their relationship to Carterodon and Euryzygomatomyinae. | ||
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| The cladogram has been reconstructed from mitochondrial and nuclear DNA characters.[3][4][5][6][7][8] |
