Order Rodentia - Family Cricetidae
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
955
1189
book chapter
0-8018-8221-4
10.5281/zenodo.7316535
Phenacomys
Merriam 1889
Phenacomys
Merriam 1889
,
N. Amer. Fauna, 2: 32
.
Type Species:
Phenacomys intermedius
Merriam 1889
Synonyms:
Propliophenacomys
L. D.
Martin 1975
.
Species and subspecies:
2 species:
Species
Phenacomys intermedius
Merriam 1889
Species
Phenacomys ungava
Merriam 1889
Discussion:
Phenacomyine. Apart from
Arborimus
, nearest generic kin uncertain—placed as
Arvicolinae
incertae sedis
(
Chaline et al., 1999
;
Gromov and Polyakov, 1977
); or with Phenacomyini, including
Arborimus
(
Zagorodnyuk, 1990
)
; Arvicolini, including
Phaiomys
and certain extinct genera (
Repenning et al., 1990
); or Myodini (
McKenna and Bell, 1997
). The rooted molars and lack of cement in reentrant angles are plesiomorphic traits that suggest an early differentiation of
Phenacomys
within the arvicoline radiation, and paleontologists have proposed its origin from a lineage of Beringian
Mimomys
in the early Pliocene (
Repenning and Grady, 1988
; Repenning et al. 1987). Early cladistic separation is also suggested by phylogenetic analysis of highly repetitive DNA (LINE-1) elements, in which
Phenacomys
forms an unresolved basal trichotomy with
Dicrostonyx
and a third branch subtending seven other genera surveyed (
Modi, 1996
). Revised by Howell (1926) and
Hall and Cockrum (1953)
, then including species assigned to
Arborimus
(see that account).
We acknowledge phenacomyine in an informal sense because Phenacomyini, as coined by
Zagorodnyuk (1990:27)
, is a
nomen nudum
and unavailable. Zagorodnyuk used the formal name in a paragraph listing of arvicoline tribes and member genera, without indicating its status as new and lacking any statement of differentiation. In view of the old and pronounced phyletic separation of
Phenacomys
suggested by the above studies, taxonomic sampling should be broadened and the family-group clade properly named and diagnosed should such a conclusion prove sustainable
.