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Owl's Spiny Rat
Owl's spiny rat (''Carterodon sulcidens'') is a rodent species in the family Echimyidae found in Brazil. It is the only species in the genus ''Carterodon''. Owl's spiny rat has evolved characteristics such as a heightened ability to dig in open grasslands during times of environmental change.Bezerra, Alexandra & Marinho-Filho, Jader & Carmignotto, Ana. (2011). A review of the distribution, morphology, and habit of the Owl’s Spiny Rat Carterodon sulcidens (Lund, 1841) (Rodentia: Echimyidae). Zoological studies. 50. 566-576. Phylogeny The genus ''Carterodon'' is the sister group to the family Capromyidae (hutias). In turn, this clade shares evolutionary affinities with some genera of spiny rats belonging to the subfamily Euryzygomatomyinae. Analyses of craniodental characters proposed that ''Carterodon'' may be associated with ''Clyomys'' and ''Euryzygomatomys''. However, molecular data suggest the polyphyly A polyphyletic group is an assemblage of organisms or other evolv ... [...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] |
George Robert Waterhouse
George Robert Waterhouse (6 March 1810 – 21 January 1888) was an English natural history, naturalist. He was a keeper at the department of geology and later curator of the Zoological Society of London's museum. Early life George was born in Somers Town to James Edward Waterhouse and Mary Newman. His father was a solicitor's clerk and an amateur entomologist. He was the brother of Frederick George Waterhouse, who also became a zoologist. George went to school at Koekelberg, near Brussels. He returned to England in 1824 and worked as an apprentice to an architect. Part of the work was in designing the garden of Charles Knight in the Vale of Health, Hampstead and the ornamentation for St. Dunstan's Church. Natural history George became interested in entomology through his father and he founded the Entomological Society of London along with Frederick William Hope in 1833 with himself as honorary curator. He became its president in 1849–50. He wrote articles for Knight's ''P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter Wilhelm Lund
Peter Wilhelm Lund (14 June 1801 – 25 May 1880) was a Danish paleontologist, zoologist, and archeologist. He spent most of his life working and living in Brazil. He is considered the father of Brazilian paleontology as well as archaeology. He was the first to describe dozens of species of pre-historic Pleistocene megafauna, including the fabled Saber-toothed cat ''Smilodon populator''. He also made the then ground-breaking discovery that humans co-existed with the long-extinct animal species, something which possibly prompted him to terminate his scientific work. His comprehensive collections are today found at the Danish Natural History Museum in Copenhagen. Early life and education Peter Wilhelm Lund was born into a wealthy family in Copenhagen. He showed an early interest in the natural science and was working towards a career in medicine but following the death of his father, his passion for natural history prompted him instead to opt for that study at the University of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 terrestrial to fossorial to semiaquatic habits. They presently exist mainly in South America; three members of the family also range into Central America, and the hutias are found in the Greater Antilles in the Caribbean. Species of the extinct subfamily Heteropsomyinae formerly lived on Cuba, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico in the Antilles, probably until the arrival of Europeans. Characteristics In general form, most spiny rats resemble rats, although they are more closely related to guinea pigs and chinchillas. Most species have stiff, pointed hairs, or spines, that presumably serve for protection from predators. Many echimyids can break off their tails when attacked. This action may confuse predators long enough for the spiny rat to es ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area and the seventh most populous. Its capital is Brasília, and its most populous city is São Paulo. The federation is composed of the union of the 26 States of Brazil, states and the Federal District (Brazil), Federal District. It is the largest country to have Portuguese language, Portuguese as an List of territorial entities where Portuguese is an official language, official language and the only one in the Americas; one of the most Multiculturalism, multicultural and ethnically diverse nations, due to over a century of mass Immigration to Brazil, immigration from around the world; and the most populous Catholic Church by country, Roman Catholic-majority country. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the east, Brazil has a Coastline of Brazi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Euryzygomatomyinae
Euryzygomatinae is a subfamily of rodents, proposed in 2017, and containing three extant genera of spiny Echimyidae: '' Clyomys'', '' Euryzygomatomys'', and '' Trinomys''. Members of this echimyid subfamily all share an origin in the eastern part of Brazil, close to the Atlantic Forest. Morpho-anatomy The teeth of Euryzygomatomyines are characterized by several features: * elongate lower and upper incisor roots ; * five lophids on the lower deciduous premolars 4 ; * either four lophids in ''Trinomys'', or three lophids in ''Clyomys'' and ''Euryzygomatomys'', on the lower molars 1 ; * well-connected lophs on the cheek teeth ; * three molar roots anchoring the upper molars. Their zygomatic arch is reduced with a slightly concave dorsal margin, and the jugal bone is ventrally expanded with much reduced, scarcely salient inferior process. Molecular signatures At the protein level, one amino acid replacement from leucine to proline yields a shared derived character state tha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polyphyly
A polyphyletic group is an assemblage of organisms or other evolving elements that is of mixed evolutionary origin. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as homoplasies, which are explained as a result of convergent evolution. The arrangement of the members of a polyphyletic group is called a polyphyly .. ource for pronunciation./ref> It is contrasted with monophyly and paraphyly. For example, the biological characteristic of warm-bloodedness evolved separately in the ancestors of mammals and the ancestors of birds; "warm-blooded animals" is therefore a polyphyletic grouping. Other examples of polyphyletic groups are algae, C4 photosynthetic plants, and edentates. Many taxonomists aim to avoid homoplasies in grouping taxa together, with a goal to identify and eliminate groups that are found to be polyphyletic. This is often the stimulus for major revisions of the classification schemes. Researchers concerned more with ecology than with system ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fossorial
A fossorial () animal is one adapted to digging which lives primarily, but not solely, underground. Some examples are badgers, naked mole-rats, clams, meerkats, and mole salamanders, as well as many beetles, wasps, and bees. Prehistoric evidence The physical adaptation of fossoriality is widely accepted as being widespread among many prehistoric phyla and taxa, such as bacteria and early eukaryotes. Furthermore, fossoriality has evolved independently multiple times, even within a single family. Fossorial animals appeared simultaneously with the colonization of land by arthropods in the late Ordovician period (over 440 million years ago). Other notable early burrowers include ''Eocaecilia'' and possibly ''Dinilysia''. The oldest example of burrowing in synapsids, the lineage which includes modern mammals and their ancestors, is a cynodont, ''Thrinaxodon liorhinus'', found in the Karoo of South Africa, estimated to be 251 million years old. Evidence shows that this ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Clyomys
''Clyomys'' is a South American rodent genus in the family Echimyidae. It contains two species, found in tropical savannas and grasslands from circa to elevation in central Brazil and eastern Paraguay. The term ''Clyomys'' derives from the two ancient greek words (, or ''clyo''), meaning "to listen, to prick up one's ears", and (), meaning "mouse, rat". The ''Clyomys '' species are as follows: * Broad-headed spiny rat (''Clyomys laticeps'') * † ''Clyomys riograndensis'' Phylogeny ''Clyomys'' is the sister genus to ''Euryzygomatomys''. Both taxa are closely related to the genus ''Trinomys''. In turn, these three genera — forming the clade of Euryzygomatomyinae — share phylogenetic affinities with a clade containing '' Carterodon'' and members of the family Capromyidae. Analyses of craniodental characters proposed that ''Clyomys'' — and also ''Euryzygomatomys'' — may be associated with ''Carterodon''. However, molecular data suggest the polyphyly A po ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Euryzygomatomys
''Euryzygomatomys'' is a genus of South American rodents, commonly called guiaras, in the family Echimyidae. It contains two extant and one fossil species, found in Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. They are as follows: * Brandt's guiara (''Euryzygomatomys guiara'') * Fischer's guiara (''Euryzygomatomys spinosus'') * †''Euryzygomatomys hoffstetteri'' - Tarija Formation, BoliviaTarija at .org Etymology The genus name ''Euryzygomatomys'' derives from the three Ancient Greek words (, or ''eury''), meaning "wide, or which extends in width", or (), meaning " ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mammals Described In 1841
Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class (biology), class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in Female#Mammalian female, females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or hair, and three ossicles, middle ear bones. These characteristics distinguish them from reptiles (including birds) from which they Genetic divergence, diverged in the Carboniferous, over 300 million years ago. Around 6,400 extant taxon, extant species of mammals have been described divided into 29 Order (biology), orders. The largest Order (biology), orders, in terms of number of species, are the rodents, bats, and Eulipotyphla (hedgehogs, Mole (animal), moles, shrews, and others). The next three are the Primates (including humans, apes, monkeys, and others), the Artiodactyla (cetaceans and even-toed ungulates), and the Carnivora (cats, dogs, pinniped, seals, and others). In terms of cladistic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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