''Heteromys'' is a genus of

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

Heteromyidae Heteromyidae is a family of rodents consisting of kangaroo rats, kangaroo mice, pocket mice and spiny pocket mice. Most heteromyids live in complex burrows within the deserts and grasslands of western North America, though species within the ...

, commonly known as spiny pocket mice. It is the only extant genus in the subfamily

Heteromyinae Heteromyinae is a subfamily of rodents in the family Heteromyidae, commonly known as spiny pocket mice. It contains a single extant genus, '' Heteromys'', as well as the extinct genera '' Diprionomys'' and '' Metaliomys''. ''Heteromys'' was rece ...

which also includes the extinct genera '' Diprionomys'' 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 (geology), Epoch made up of two faunal stage, stage ...

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

paraphyletic Paraphyly is a taxonomic term describing a grouping that consists of the grouping's last common ancestor and some but not all of its descendant lineages. The grouping is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In co ...

Distribution

Heteromyines are distributed from southern

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

and

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

, and include all but

one 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

of the

castorimorph Castorimorpha is the suborder of rodents containing the beavers, gophers and the Heteromyidae, kangaroo rats. A 2017 study using retroposon markers indicated that they are most closely related to the Anomaluromorpha (the scaly-tailed squirrels an ...

species of South America. Like all of South America's other non-

caviomorph Caviomorpha is the rodent parvorder that unites all New World hystricognaths. It is supported by both fossil and molecular evidence. The Caviomorpha was for a time considered to be a separate order outside the Rodentia, but is now accepted as ...

rodents, they arrived in the continent relatively recently as part of the

Great American Interchange The Great American Biotic Interchange (commonly abbreviated as GABI), also known as the Great American Interchange and the Great American Faunal Interchange, was an important late Cenozoic paleozoogeographic biotic interchange event in which land ...

. They inhabit mainly forests; some are also found in scrubland.

Taxonomy

Painted spiny pocket mouse The painted spiny pocket mouse (''Heteromys pictus'') is a species of rodent in the family Heteromyidae. It is found in Mexico and the northern tip of Guatemala. It was formerly placed in the genus ''Liomys'', which is now recognized to be parap ...

(''H. pictus'') * Salvin's spiny pocket mouse (''H. salvini'') * Jaliscan spiny pocket mouse (''H. spectabilis'') * Ecuadoran spiny pocket mouse (''H. teleus'')

References

Rodent genera Taxa named by Anselme Gaëtan Desmarest Mammals described in 1817 Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Heteromyidae-stub