''Reithrodon'' is a genus of

rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the order Rodentia (), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They are n ...

in the family

Cricetidae The Cricetidae are a family of rodents in the large and complex superfamily Muroidea. It includes true hamsters, voles, lemmings, muskrats, and New World rats and mice. At almost 608 species, it is the second-largest family of mammals, and h ...

. It contains the following living species: *

Bunny rat The bunny rat, or hairy-soled conyrat (''Reithrodon auritus'') is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae, native to southern South America. Description The bunny rat is a heavily built rat-like rodent, with a total length of , including the ...

(''Reithrodon auritus'') * Naked-soled conyrat (''Reithrodon typicus'') The scientific name translates as "channel tooth" and refers to grooves on the upper

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. The oldest fossils date from the late

Pliocene The Pliocene ( ; also Pleiocene) is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58Miocene The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), 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 mea ...

References

External links

Tree of Life: Reithrodon
Rodent genera Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Sigmodontinae-stub