Zenkerella (rodent)
Genus of rodent
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Zenkerella is a genus of rodent, the only member of the family Zenkerellidae. It was formerly classified in Anomaluridae until phylogenetic studies made its distinctiveness clear.[2] While the Anomalurus of the family Anomaluridae has gliding membranes between its forelimb and hindlimb, the Zenkerella has no such adaptation.[3] It is estimated from fossil records that this divergence might have occurred in the middle of the Eocene.
| Zenkerella Temporal range: Early Miocene to recent[1] | |
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Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Suborder: | Anomaluromorpha |
| Family: | Zenkerellidae Matschie, 1898 |
| Genus: | Zenkerella Matschie, 1898 |
| Type species | |
| Zenkerella insignis Matschie, 1898 | |
| Species | |
There is a single extant, the Cameroon scaly-tail, and a single fossil representative. The fossil species Zenkerella wintoni is known from a single mandible from Songhor, Kenya dated to the Early Miocene.[4]