Order Rodentia - Family Capromyidae
Author
Wilson, Don E.
Author
Reeder, DeeAnn
text
2005
The Johns Hopkins University Press
Baltimore
Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3 rd Edition), Volume 2
1593
1599
book chapter
0-8018-8221-4
10.5281/zenodo.7316535
Capromyinae Smith 1842
Capromyinae Smith 1842
,
The Naturalist's Library (London), Vol. 15: 30
.
Genera:
4 genera with 13 species:
Genus
Capromys
Desmarest 1822
(2 species with 3 subspecies)
Genus
Geocapromys
Chapman 1901
(3 species)
Genus
Mesocapromys
Varona 1970
(5 species)
Genus
Mysateles
Lesson 1842
(3 species with 2 subspecies)
Discussion:
Reviewed by Kratochvíl et al. (1978), Varona and Arredondo (1979), and
Borroto (2002)
. The status of
Brachycapromys
,
Mysateles
,
Mesocapromys
,
Pygmaeocapromys
,
Paracapromys
, and
Stenocapromys
as genera or subgenera is unresolved (
Hall, 1981
; Rodriquez et al., 1979;
Woods and Howland, 1979
). This group is in need of revision to standardize the taxonomic levels proposed for the Cuban radiation of capromyids with taxonomic categories established for Hispaniola. The living Cuban capromyids are placed in three genera (
Capromys
,
Mesocapromys
,
Mysateles
) as accepted by the majority of Cuban systematists (see
Kratochvil et al., 1978
and
Borroto, 2002
).
Woods et al. (2001)
demonstrated that
Mysateles
is paraphyletic, and placed
melanurus
within the genus
Mesocapromys
. In addition to the extant forms described below, 13 extinct forms of
Capromys
like hutias have been described (Varona and Arredondo, 1979):
Capromys antiquus
,
C. arredondoi
,
C. latus
,
C. pappus
,
C. robustus
,
Mesocapromys barbouri
,
M. beatrizae
,
M. delicatus
,
M. gracilis
,
M. kraglievichi
,
M. minimus
,
M. silvai
, and
Mysateles jaumei
. Some of these were described in separate subgenera (i.e.
Pygmaeocapromys
,
Brachycapromys
,
Palaeocapromys
).