Caviinae is a subfamily uniting all living members of the family
Caviidae with the exception of the
maras,
capybara
The capybaraAlso called capivara (in Brazil), capiguara (in Bolivia), chigüire, chigüiro, or fercho (in Colombia and Venezuela), carpincho (in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay) and ronsoco (in Peru). or greater capybara (''Hydrochoerus hydro ...
s, and ''
Kerodon''. The subfamily traditionally contained the guinea pig or cavy-like forms along with the cursorially adapted (running) ''Kerodon''.
Molecular
A molecule is a group of two or more atoms held together by attractive forces known as chemical bonds; depending on context, the term may or may not include ions which satisfy this criterion. In quantum physics, organic chemistry, and bioch ...
results suggest the Caviinae as so defined would be
paraphyletic
In taxonomy (general), taxonomy, a group is paraphyletic if it consists of the group's most recent common ancestor, last common ancestor and most of its descendants, excluding a few Monophyly, monophyletic subgroups. The group is said to be pa ...
and ''Kerodon'' is more closely related to maras and capybaras than to other caviines.
[Rowe, D. L. and R. L. Honeycutt. 2002. Phylogenetic relationships, ecological correlates, and molecular evolution within the Cavioidea (Mammalia, Rodentia). Molecular Biology and Evolution, 19:263-277.] This led Woods and Kilpatrick (2005) to unite ''Kerodon'' and capybaras into the subfamily Hydrochoerinae within the Caviidae. These studies also suggest ''
Microcavia'' and ''
Cavia'' are more closely related to one another than either is to ''
Galea''.
Genera and species
*Subfamily Caviinae
**†''
Cardiomys''
**†''
Allocavia''
**†''
Palaeocavia''
**†''
Neocavia''
**†''
Dolicavia''
**†''
Macrocavia''
**†''
Caviops''
**†''
Pascualia''
**''
Galea'' - yellow-toothed cavies
***''
Galea flavidens'' - Brandt's yellow-toothed cavy (may be an invalid species)
***''
Galea monasteriensis'' - Muenster yellow-toothed cavy
***''
Galea musteloides'' - common yellow-toothed cavy
***''
Galea spixii'' - Spix's yellow-toothed cavy
**''
Microcavia'' - mountain cavies
***''
Microcavia australis'' - southern mountain cavy
***''
Microcavia niata'' - Andean mountain cavy
***''
Microcavia shiptoni'' - Shipton's mountain cavy
**''
Cavia'' - guinea pigs
***''
Cavia aperea'' - Brazilian guinea pig
***''
Cavia fulgida'' - shiny guinea pig
***''
Cavia intermedia'' - intermediate guinea pig
***''
Cavia magna'' - greater guinea pig
***''
Cavia porcellus'' - domestic guinea pig
***''
Cavia tschudii'' - montane guinea pig
References
Further reading
*Duff, A. and A. Lawson. 2004. Mammals of the World A Checklist. New Haven, Yale University Press.
*McKenna, Malcolm C., and Bell, Susan K. 1997. ''Classification of Mammals Above the Species Level.'' Columbia University Press, New York, 631 pp.
*
External links
*
{{Taxonbar, from=Q914293
Cavies
Taxa named by Gotthelf Fischer von Waldheim
Mammal subfamilies