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Spalacidae
Sign in to saveThe Spalacidae, or spalacids, are a family of rodents in the large and complex superfamily Muroidea. They are native to eastern Asia, the Horn of Africa, the Middle East, and southeastern Europe. It includes the blind mole-rats, bamboo rats, mole-rats, and zokors. This family represents the oldest split (excluding perhaps the Platacanthomyidae) in the muroid superfamily, and comprises animals adapted to a subterranean way of life. These rodents were thought to have evolved adaptations to living underground independently until recent phylogenetic studies demonstrated they form a monophyletic gr
Species
FAMILY
- KingdomAnimalia
- PhylumChordata
- ClassMammalia
- OrderRodentia
- FamilySpalacidae
Spalacidae est une famille de rongeurs. Auparavant le contenu de cette famille était placé sous la famille Muridae, mais les études récentes tendent à faire de cette famille la super-famille Muroidea et à distinguer en réalité six familles, dont Spalacidae. Liste des sous-familles Selon Mammal Species of the World (version 3, 2005) (31 mai 2016)[1] et ITIS (31 mai 2016)[2] : sous-famille Myospalacinae genre Eospalax genre Myospalax sous-famille Rhizomyinae genre Cannomys genre Rhizomys sous-famille Spalacinae genre Spalax sous-famille Tachyoryctinae genre Tachyoryctes Références ↑ Mammal Species of the World (version 3, 2005), consulté le 31 mai 2016 ↑ Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS), www.itis.gov, CC0 https://doi.org/10.5066/F7KH0KBK, consulté le 31 mai 2016
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Encyclopedic overview
5 sectionsContents
- Characteristics
- Characteristics
- Classification
- References
- Bibliography
The Spalacidae, or spalacids, are a family of rodents in the large and complex superfamily Muroidea. They are native to eastern Asia, the Horn of Africa, the Middle East, and southeastern Europe. It includes the blind mole-rats, bamboo rats, mole-rats, and zokors. This family represents the oldest split (excluding perhaps the Platacanthomyidae) in the muroid superfamily, and comprises animals adapted to a subterranean way of life. These rodents were thought to have evolved adaptations to living underground independently until recent phylogenetic studies demonstrated they form a monophyletic group. Members of the Spalacidae are often placed in the family Muridae along with all other members of the Muroidea.
==Characteristics== Spalacids are mouse- to rat-sized rodents, adapted to burrowing and living underground. They have short limbs, wedge-shaped skulls, strong neck muscles, large incisor teeth, and small eyes and external ears. In the zokors, which dig primarily with their feet, rather than their teeth, the front claws are also massively enlarged. These features are least extreme in the bamboo rats, which spend at least some of their time above ground, foraging for food. They are most highly developed in the blind mole-rats, whose eyes are completely covered by skin, and entirely lack external ears or tails.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Spalacidae” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.