Gundis
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Gundis or comb rats are a group of small, stocky,
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
n
rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the Order (biology), order Rodentia ( ), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and Mandible, lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal specie ...
s in the family Ctenodactylidae. They live in rocky
desert A desert is a landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions create unique biomes and ecosystems. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About one-third of the la ...
s across
Northern Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...
. The family comprises four living
genera Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family as used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In binomial nomenclature, the genus name forms the first part of the binomial s ...
and five
species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...
( Speke's gundi, Felou gundi, Val's or desert gundi, common or North African gundi and Mzab gundi), as well as numerous extinct genera and species. They are in the superfamily Ctenodactyloidea. Local people in northern Africa have always known about gundis, however they first came to the notice of western
naturalists Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...
in
Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis (from , meaning "three cities") may refer to: Places Greece *Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in the Pelasgiotis district, Thessaly, near Larissa ...
in 1774, and were given the name ''gundi mice''. While they are not regarded as pests, some people hunt gundis for food. All living gundi species are members of the Ctenodactylinae sub-family. The Ctenodactylidae family also includes three extinct sub-families, Tataromyinae, Karakoromyinae and Dystylomyinae. The scientific name comes from
Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...
(), "comb", and (), "finger".


Description

Gundis are from 17 to 18 cm in body length, with compact bodies covered in soft fur, short legs, and large eyes. They have only four toes on all feet and the middle toes of the hind feet carry comb-like bristles, which earned them the name "comb rat". Gundis have short
tail The tail is the elongated section at the rear end of a bilaterian animal's body; in general, the term refers to a distinct, flexible appendage extending backwards from the midline of the torso. In vertebrate animals that evolution, evolved to los ...
s, which in some species are covered in a large fan of hair that aids in balancing as they move about their rocky and uneven environments. Their ribcages are flexible, which helps them fit into small crevices. Gundis are
herbivorous A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically evolved to feed on plants, especially upon vascular tissues such as foliage, fruits or seeds, as the main component of its diet. These more broadly also encompass animals that eat n ...
, eating almost every type of available plant. Like many other desert animals, they do not drink, obtaining all the moisture they need from their food. Their
incisor Incisors (from Latin ''incidere'', "to cut") are the front teeth present in most mammals. They are located in the premaxilla above and on the mandible below. Humans have a total of eight (two on each side, top and bottom). Opossums have 18, wher ...
s lack the layer of tough, orange, enamel found in other rodents, and they have a
dental formula Dentition pertains to the development of teeth and their arrangement in the mouth. In particular, it is the characteristic arrangement, kind, and number of teeth in a given species at a given age. That is, the number, type, and morpho-physiology ...
of: Females typically give birth to two young at a time, after a
gestation Gestation is the period of development during the carrying of an embryo, and later fetus, inside viviparous animals (the embryo develops within the parent). It is typical for mammals, but also occurs for some non-mammals. Mammals during pregn ...
period of about two months. Because of the need to preserve moisture, female gundis produce only a small amount of
milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of lactating mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfeeding, breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. ...
, and the young are fully
weaned Weaning is the process of gradually introducing an infant human or other mammal to what will be its adult diet while withdrawing the supply of its mother's milk. In the UK, weaning primarily refers to the introduction of solid foods at 6 mont ...
by four weeks of age. On average, female gundis are bigger than males. Gundis live about 3 to 4 years in the wild.


Habitat and behavior

Gundis live in all manner of rocky desert habitats: cliffs, hills, rocky outcrops,
scree Scree is a collection of broken rock fragments at the base of a cliff or other steep rocky mass that has accumulated through periodic rockfall. Landforms associated with these materials are often called talus deposits. The term ''scree'' is ap ...
slopes, and so on. They are found between sea level and 2,500 meters in elevation. Gundis live in colonies of up to a hundred or more individuals, although colonies are smaller in environments where food is particularly scarce. They shelter in existing rock crevices at night, or during
midday Noon (also known as noontime or midday) is 12 o'clock in the daytime. It is written as 12 noon, 12:00 m. (for '' meridiem'', literally 12:00 midday), 12 p.m. (for ''post meridiem'', literally "after midday"), 12 pm, or 12:00 (using a 24-hour cloc ...
when the sun becomes too hot for them to remain active. Most shelters are temporary, but some are occupied for years. Gundis pile onto each other for heat, especially in cold or windy weather. They are not known to hibernate. Gundi colonies have a dunghill that all the members of the colony use. Gundis are vocal animals, with a range of alarm calls and communication signals for group bonding, greetings, and alerting other gundis of predators. All members of Ctenodactylidae thump their hind feet on the ground when alarmed. Gundis rely on their acute hearing. If a gundi is threatened, it will run to the nearest rock crevice or play dead. While gundis are generally slow, they can sprint when threatened. Gundis can also climb up almost vertical surfaces.


Evolution

According to a
DNA sequence A nucleic acid sequence is a succession of bases within the nucleotides forming alleles within a DNA (using GACT) or RNA (GACU) molecule. This succession is denoted by a series of a set of five different letters that indicate the order of the nu ...
study, the ancestors of the gundis diverged from those of the
Laotian rock rat The Laotian rock rat or ''kha-nyou'' (''Laonastes aenigmamus'', Lao: ຂະຍຸ), sometimes called the "rat-squirrel", is a species of rodent found in the Khammouan region of Laos. The species was first described in a 2005 article by Paulina ...
around the
Lutetian The Lutetian is, in the geologic timescale, a stage (stratigraphy), stage or age (geology), age in the Eocene. It spans the time between . The Lutetian is preceded by the Ypresian and is followed by the Bartonian. Together with the Bartonian it ...
, some 44 million years ago (Early/Middle
Eocene The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes ...
). Fossils within Ctenodactylidae have been found in Asia, dating back to the mid-Eocene. Gundi fossils from the
Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...
have been found in Asia, North Africa, and parts of Italy.


Taxonomy

*Ctenodactylidae **'' Ctenodactylus'' *** Common gundi, ''Ctenodactylus gundi'' *** Val's gundi, ''Ctenodactylus vali'' **''Felovia'' *** Felou gundi, ''Felovia vae'' **''Massoutiera'' *** Mzab gundi, ''Massoutiera mzabi'' **''Pectinator'' *** Speke's pectinator, ''Pectinator spekei''


References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q655774   Ctenodactylomorphi Rodents by common name   Extant Rupelian first appearances Mammals described in 1853 Taxa named by Paul Gervais