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Kerodon
The genus ''Kerodon'' (vernacular name Mocos; Rock Cavies) contains two species of South American rock cavies, related to capybaras and guinea pigs. They are found in semiarid regions of northeast Brazil known as the Caatinga. This area has a rocky terrain with large granite boulders that contain rifts and hollows where ''Kerodon'' spp. primarily live. Characteristics They are hystricomorph rodents, medium-sized, with rabbit-like bodies, a squirrel-like face, and heavily padded feet. Their nails are blunt on all digits except a small grooming claw on the outermost digit of the foot. Fully grown adults weigh around 1000 g or 31-35 oz, and range in length from 200 to 400 mm or 7.5 to 16 in. They forage for mostly leaves, grasses, seeds, and tree bark. They breed year round, usually having one to three litters per year and one to three young per pregnancy. Gestation last around 76 days and the young are weaned from the mother within 33 days. They reach sexual maturity at 133 days. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kerodon Rupestris
The rock cavy or ''mocó'' (''Kerodon rupestris'') is a cavy species endemic to eastern Brazil which has also been introduced to the Atlantic island of Fernando de Noronha. The rock cavy is called ''mocó'' in Brazilian Portuguese, and ''koriko pexerumen'' in the Xukuru language of Pernambuco, Brazil. Description The rock cavy is a fairly large rodent weighing up to . Like other cavy species, their tails are vestigial or absent. Their backs are grey-brown and their bellies tan to light brown. In appearance and habit, they closely resemble the unrelated African rock hyraxes (an example of convergent evolution). They are herbivorous, feeding on seeds and leaves of the scrubby vegetation that grows in their territories. This vegetation consists of tender leaves and certain species of creeper. Distribution and habitat Rock cavies are found in dry, rocky areas with low, scrubby vegetation, and they prefer to reside close to stony mountainsides and hills. They are native to e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rock Cavy
The rock cavy or ''mocó'' (''Kerodon rupestris'') is a cavy species endemic to eastern Brazil which has also been introduced to the Atlantic island of Fernando de Noronha. The rock cavy is called ''mocó'' in Brazilian Portuguese, and ''koriko pexerumen'' in the Xukuru language of Pernambuco, Brazil. Description The rock cavy is a fairly large rodent weighing up to . Like other cavy species, their tails are vestigial or absent. Their backs are grey-brown and their bellies tan to light brown. In appearance and habit, they closely resemble the unrelated African rock hyraxes (an example of convergent evolution). They are herbivorous, feeding on seeds and leaves of the scrubby vegetation that grows in their territories. This vegetation consists of tender leaves and certain species of creeper. Distribution and habitat Rock cavies are found in dry, rocky areas with low, scrubby vegetation, and they prefer to reside close to stony mountainsides and hills. They are native to eas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kerodon Acrobata
The acrobatic cavy (''Kerodon acrobata'') also known as the Acrobatic Moco and Climbing Cavy is a cavy species native to Brazil in the Amazon rainforest. It is found from Goiás state to Tocantins state, west of the Espigão Mestre, Serra Geral de Goiás, and is also found in Terra Ronca State Park. Diet They are herbivores known to eat a generalized diet of leaves, flowers, bud, bark and fruit from 16 different types of native plantations. Habitat Found in seasonally dry areas of the Amazon rainforest , often in limestone outcrops and emerge to forage and climb trees. Appearance Acrobatic Cavies are a large rodent averaging 1 kg in weight, their fur ranges from dark grey to light brown with orange-brown feet, mostly observed on hindfeet. Their tails are vestigial. Phylogeny The Acrobatic Cavy belongs to the order Rodentia, in the family Caviidae (Guinea-pig like rodents) which has two subfamilies (formerly three) with Acrobatic Cavies being in a new subfamily Hy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caviinae
Caviinae is a subfamily uniting all living members of the family Caviidae with the exception of the maras, capybaras, and ''Kerodon''. The subfamily traditionally contained the guinea pig or cavy-like forms along with the cursorially adapted (running) ''Kerodon''. Molecular results suggest the Caviinae as so defined would be paraphyletic 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'' **†'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hydrochoerinae
Hydrochoerinae is a subfamily of Caviidae, consisting of two living genera, ''Hydrochoerus'', the capybaras, and ''Kerodon'', the rock cavies. In addition, a number of extinct genera related to capybaras should also be placed in this subfamily. The taxonomy of Hydrochoerinae is confused because, until 2005, living capybaras and their extinct relatives were placed in their own family, Hydrochoeridae.McKenna, Malcolm C., and Bell, Susan K. 1997. ''Classification of Mammals Above the Species Level.'' Columbia University Press, New York, 631 pp. Recent molecular phylogenetic studies recognize a close relationship between ''Hydrochoerus'' and ''Kerodon'', supporting placement of both genera in a subfamily of Caviidae. Paleontological classifications have yet to incorporate this new taxonomy, and continue to use Hydrochoeridae for all capybaras, while using Hydrochoerinae for the living genus and its closest fossil relatives such as ''Neochoerus ''Neochoerus'' ("new hog") is an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 hydrochaeris'') is a giant cavy rodent native to South America. It is the largest living rodent and a member of the genus ''Hydrochoerus''. The only other extant member is the lesser capybara (''Hydrochoerus isthmius''). Its close relatives include guinea pigs and rock cavies, and it is more distantly related to the agouti, the chinchilla, and the nutria. The capybara inhabits savannas and dense forests, and lives near bodies of water. It is a highly social species and can be found in groups as large as 100 individuals, but usually live in groups of 10–20 individuals. The capybara is hunted for its meat and hide and also for grease from its thick fatty skin. It is not considered a threatened species. Etymology Its common name is derived fro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cavies
Caviidae, the cavy family, is composed of rodents native to South America and includes the domestic guinea pig, wild cavies, and the largest living rodent, the capybara. They are found across South America in open areas from moist savanna to thorn forests or scrub desert. This family of rodents has fewer members than most other rodent families, with 19 species in 6 genera in 3 subfamilies. Characteristics With the exception of the maras, which have a more rabbit-like appearance, caviids have short, heavy bodies and large heads. Most have no visible tails. They range in size from the smaller cavies at 22 cm in body length, and 300 grams in weight, up to the capybara, the largest of all rodents at 106 to 134 cm in length, and body weights of 35 to 66 kilograms. Even larger forms existed in the Pliocene, such as '' Phugatherium'', which was about the size of a tapir. They are herbivores, eating tough grasses or softer leaves, depending on species. The dental fo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in 2009 by the International Union of Geological Sciences, the cutoff of the Pleistocene and the preceding Pliocene was regarded as being 1.806 million years Before Present (BP). Publications from earlier years may use either definition of the period. The end of the Pleistocene corresponds with the end of the last glacial period and also with the end of the Paleolithic age used in archaeology. The name is a combination of Ancient Greek grc, label=none, πλεῖστος, pleīstos, most and grc, label=none, καινός, kainós (latinized as ), 'new'. At the end of the preceding Pliocene, the previously isolated North and South American continents were joined by the Isthmus of Panama, causing Great American Interchang ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Miocene
The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern marine invertebrates than the Pliocene has. The Miocene is preceded by the Oligocene and is followed by the Pliocene. As Earth went from the Oligocene through the Miocene and into the Pliocene, the climate slowly cooled towards a series of ice ages. The Miocene boundaries are not marked by a single distinct global event but consist rather of regionally defined boundaries between the warmer Oligocene and the cooler Pliocene Epoch. During the Early Miocene, the Arabian Peninsula collided with Eurasia, severing the connection between the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean, and allowing a faunal interchange to occur between Eurasia and Africa, including the dispersal of proboscideans into Eurasia. During the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Molecular Clock
The molecular clock is a figurative term for a technique that uses the mutation rate of biomolecules to deduce the time in prehistory when two or more life forms diverged. The biomolecular data used for such calculations are usually nucleotide sequences for DNA, RNA, or amino acid sequences for proteins. The benchmarks for determining the mutation rate are often fossil or archaeological dates. The molecular clock was first tested in 1962 on the hemoglobin protein variants of various animals, and is commonly used in molecular evolution to estimate times of speciation or radiation. It is sometimes called a gene clock or an evolutionary clock. Early discovery and genetic equidistance The notion of the existence of a so-called "molecular clock" was first attributed to Émile Zuckerkandl and Linus Pauling who, in 1962, noticed that the number of amino acid differences in hemoglobin between different lineages changes roughly linearly with time, as estimated from fossil evidence. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Molecular Phylogeny
Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to determine the processes by which diversity among species has been achieved. The result of a molecular phylogenetic analysis is expressed in a phylogenetic tree. Molecular phylogenetics is one aspect of molecular systematics, a broader term that also includes the use of molecular data in taxonomy and biogeography. Molecular phylogenetics and molecular evolution correlate. Molecular evolution is the process of selective changes (mutations) at a molecular level (genes, proteins, etc.) throughout various branches in the tree of life (evolution). Molecular phylogenetics makes inferences of the evolutionary relationships that arise due to molecular evolution and results in the construction of a phylogenetic tree. History The theoretical framew ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dolichotinae
Maras, subfamily Dolichotinae, are a group of rodents in the family Caviidae. These large relatives of guinea pigs are common in the Patagonian steppes of Argentina, but also live in Paraguay and elsewhere in South America. There are two extant species, the Patagonian mara of the genus ''Dolichotis'' and the Chacoan mara of the genus ''Pediolagus''; traditionally this species was also thought to belong to ''Dolichotis'' howeve,r a 2020 study by the American Society of Mammalogists found significant difference between the two mara species to warrant resurrecting the genus ''Pediolagus'' for it. Several extinct genera are also known. Description Maras have stocky bodies, three sharp-clawed digits on the hind feet, and four digits of the fore feet. Maras have been described as resembling long-legged rabbits. Patagonian maras can run at speeds up to . The Patagonian species can weigh over in adulthood. The average weight of adult male Patagonian maras is and in adult females is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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