Heteromyinae

Not to be confused with the spiny pocket mouse, Chaetodipus spinatus, in heteromyid subfamily Perognathinae.

Heteromyinae is a subfamily of rodents in the family Heteromyidae,^[2] commonly known as spiny pocket mice. It contains a single extant genus, Heteromys, as well as the extinct genera Diprionomys and Metaliomys.^[1] Heteromys was recently enlarged by inclusion of the members of formerly recognized heteromyine genus Liomys, which was found to be paraphyletic.^[3]

Heteromyinae Temporal range: Middle Miocene–Recent PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N [1]
Heteromys desmarestianus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Rodentia
Family:	Heteromyidae
Subfamily:	Heteromyinae Gray, 1868
Genera
†Diprionomys Kellogg, 1910 Heteromys Desmarest 1817 †Metaliomys Korth & De Blieux, 2010

Taxonomy

Heteromyinae is the sister group of Perognathinae; the two are estimated to have split about 22-23 million years (Ma) ago. The most recent common ancestor of extant heteromyines is thought to have lived 12-15 Ma ago; the basal species in the subfamily is H. salvini.^[3]