Platacanthomyidae

Platacanthomyids
Temporal range: Early Miocene – Recent
Malabar spiny dormouse, Platacanthomys lasiurus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Superfamily: Muroidea
Family: Platacanthomyidae
Alston, 1876
Type genus
Platacanthomys
Blyth, 1859
Genera

†Neocometes
Platacanthomys
Typhlomys

The rodent family Platacanthomyidae, or Oriental dormice, includes the spiny dormice and the Chinese pygmy dormice. In spite of their appearance, these animals are not true dormice, but are part of the large and complex superfamily Muroidea. The platacanthomyids can be distinguished from the true dormice, because they have no premolars, giving them three cheek teeth, like their relatives, the Muroidea.

The evolutionary relationship of the Platacanthomyidae was uncertain until a molecular phylogenetic study found it to be the earliest extant lineage to branch within the superfamily Muroidea.[citation needed] They can be distinguished from both the family Spalacidae and the Eumuroida (all non-spalacid and non-platacanthomyid muroids), by the distinct shape of their infraorbital canal and by the presence of multiple openings in the palate of the skull. On the basis of these two characteristics, they have been considered to be distinct from all other muroids. More work is needed to determine the evolutionary position of this subfamily.

The Platacanthomyidae contain three genera – Neocometes,[1] Platacanthomys (spiny dormice), and Typhlomys[2] (pygmy dormice) – but only three extant species.

  1. ^ Lee, Yuong-Nam and Louis L. Jacobs. 2010. The Platacanthomyine Rodent Neocometes from the Miocene of South Korea and Its Paleobiogeographical Implications. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 55(4):581-586. doi:10.4202/app.2010.0013
  2. ^ Jansa, S.A., T.C. Giarla, and B.K. Lim. 2009. The Phylogenetic Position of the Rodent Genus Typhlomys and the Geographic Origin of Muroidea. "Journal of Mammalogy": October 2009, Vol. 90, No. 5, pp. 1083-1094. doi:10.1644/08-MAMM-A-318.1