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Hystricognaths
Hystricognathi
The Hystricognathi are an infraorder of rodents, distinguished from other rodents by the bone structure of their skulls. The masseter medialis (a jaw muscle) passes partially through the infraorbital foramen and connects to the bone on the opposite side. This, together with their lack of an infraorbital plate and the relative size of the infraorbital foramen, distinguishes hystricognaths from other rodent groups.
9 branches of this group, most-observed first · about 306 known species
Cavies, Agoutis, and Pacas
superfamilyCavioidea
Degus, Hutias, Tuco-tucos, and Allies
superfamilyOctodontoidea
New World Porcupines
superfamilyErethizontoidea
Old World Porcupines
familyHystricidae
Chinchillas, Viscachas, and Pacaranas
superfamilyChinchilloidea
African Molerats
familyBathyergidae
Dassie Rats
familyPetromuridae
Cane Rats
familyThryonomyidae
Naked Molerats
familyHeterocephalidae
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
—
geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Hystricognathi in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 870767.