Eocardiidae

Eocardiidae Temporal range: Early-Mid Miocene (Colhuehuapian-Friasian) ~21.0–15.5 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
Skeletal restoration of Eocardia
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Rodentia
Superfamily:	Cavioidea
Family:	†Eocardiidae Ameghino 1891
Subfamilies and genera
† † † † †Eocardia † † † † †

The Eocardiidae are an extinct family of caviomorph rodents from South America. The family is probably ancestral to the living family Caviidae,^[1] which includes cavies, maras, and capybaras and their relatives. McKenna and Bell (1997) divided eocardiids into two subfamilies, for two of the oldest genera ( and ) and for remaining genera. Kramarz (2006) has recommended the abandonment of these subfamilies, as the genera placed in Luantinae appear to represent basal eocardiids, rather than a specialized side branch. The latter hypothesis had been proposed by Wood and Patterson (1959).^[2]

Fossils of the family were found in the Colhuehuapian to Friasian , , , and Collón Curá Formations and the of Argentina and the Cura-Mallín Group of Chile.^[3]

References[]

Bibliography[]

• Kramarz, A.G. 2006. Eocardiids (Rodentia, Hystricognathi) from the Pinturas Formation, late early Miocene of Patagonia, Argentina. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 26(3):770-778.
• Wood, A.E. and Patterson, B. 1959. Rodents of the Deseadan Oligocene of Patagonia and the beginnings of South American rodent evolution. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 120:281-428.

Further reading[]

• McKenna, Malcolm C., and Bell, Susan K. 1997. Classification of Mammals Above the Species Level. Columbia University Press, New York, 631 pp. ISBN 0-231-11013-8

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