Heteromyinae is a subfamily of

rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the order Rodentia (), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They are n ...

s in the family Heteromyidae, commonly known as spiny pocket mice. It contains a single extant genus, '' Heteromys'', as well as the extinct genera ''

Diprionomys ''Diprionomys'' is an extinct genus of Heteromyidae that existed in the United States during the Late Miocene period. References

Heteromyidae Miocene rodents Neogene mammals of North America Fossil taxa described in 1910 {{Heteromyida ...

'' and ''

Metaliomys ''Metaliomys'' is an extinct genus of Heteromyidae that existed in the United States during the Late Miocene The Late Miocene (also known as Upper Miocene) is a sub-epoch of the Miocene Epoch made up of two stages. The Tortonian and Messinian ...

''. ''Heteromys'' was recently enlarged by inclusion of the members of formerly recognized heteromyine genus ''Liomys'', which was found to be

paraphyletic In taxonomy, a group is paraphyletic if it consists of the group's last common ancestor and most of its descendants, excluding a few monophyletic subgroups. The group is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In ...

Taxonomy

Heteromyinae is the

sister group In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and ...

of Perognathinae; the two are estimated to have split about 22-23 million years ( Ma) ago. The most recent common ancestor of extant heteromyines is thought to have lived 12-15 Ma ago; the basal species in the subfamily is '' H. salvini''.

References

Heteromyidae Taxa named by John Edward Gray Mammal subfamilies {{Heteromyidae-stub