NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Caviomorpha

Caviomorpha - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (740 words)
	Caviomorpha is the name for the rodent infraorder or parvorder that unites all South American hystricognaths.
	This is supported by molecular results, which suggest that the Phiomorpha (as restricted to Bathyergidae, Petromuridae, and Thryonomyidae) are sister taxa to the Caviomorpha.
	The "Franimorpha" were once proposed as a potential North American rodent group that may represent an ancestor to the Caviomorpha, but most modern researchers consider franimorphs to have been protrogomorphous instead of hystricomorphous.

Hystricognathi (145 words)
	The lack of infraorbital plate to which to anchor the masseter lateralis and the relative size of the infraorbital foramen distinguishes hystricognathi from the Sciuromorpha.
	There are 18 families within the Hystricognathi, divisible into a dual classification of infraorders, the Phiomorpha and the Caviomorpha.
	The Caviomorpha are mostly native to South America, with a few species in North America, while the Phiomorpha occur in the Old World.

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