''Dactylomys'' is the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the souther ...

n bamboo rats They are arboreal members of the family

Echimyidae Echimyidae is the family of neotropical spiny rats and their fossil relatives. This is the most species-rich family of hystricognath rodents. It is probably also the most ecologically diverse, with members ranging from fully arboreal to ter ...

Systematics

The genus name ''Dactylomys'' derives from the two

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

words (), meaning "finger", and (), meaning "mouse, rat", and refers to the middle two digits especially elongated relative to lateral ones as observed in these rodents. The genus contains three species: * '' Dactylomys boliviensis'' (Bolivian bamboo rat) * '' Dactylomys dactylinus'' (Amazon bamboo rat) * '' Dactylomys peruanus'' (Montane bamboo rat)

Phylogeny

''Dactylomys'' is a member of the

Echimyini Echimyini is a tribe of echimyid rodents, proposed in 2016, and containing 13 extant genera: all of the tree rats ''Echimys'', '' Phyllomys'', ''Makalata'', '' Pattonomys'', ''Toromys'', '' Diplomys'', '' Santamartamys'', and '' Isothrix'', the ...

clade of

arboreal Arboreal locomotion is the locomotion of animals in trees. In habitats in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some animals may scale trees only occasionally, but others are exclusively arboreal. The habitats pose num ...

Echimyidae rodents. The closest relative of ''Dactylomys'' is ''Olallamys'', and then ''Kannabateomys''. These South American bamboo rats share unique features and are grouped under the informal clade name of "Dactylomyines". The dactylomyines are the sister genera to ''Diplomys'' and ''Santamartamys''. All these taxa are closely related to the genera ''Echimys'', ''Phyllomys'', ''Makalata'', ''Pattonomys'', and ''Toromys''. In turn, these genera share phylogenetic affinities with the clade containing ''Lonchothrix'' and ''Mesomys'', and with ''Isothrix''.

References

Taxa named by Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire Rodent genera {{Echimyidae-stub