Heteropsomyinae Anthony 1917

Wilson, Don E. & Reeder, DeeAnn, 2005, Order Rodentia - Family Echimyidae, Mammal Species of the World: a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3 rd Edition), Volume 2, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 1575-1592 : 1591

Heteropsomyinae Anthony 1917

Heteropsomyinae Anthony 1917 , Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., 37 (4): 18.

Genera: 3 genera with 6 species:

Genus Boromys Miller 1916 (2 species)

Genus Brotomys Miller 1916 (2 species)

Genus Heteropsomys Anthony 1916 (2 species)

Discussion: Named by Anthony to reflect perceived relationship between Heteropsomys and Dasyprocta . Expanded by Kraglievich (1965) and Patterson and Pascual (1968 a) to include Proechimys and associated genera. Modified by Woods (1982:386) wherein West Indian spiny rats were classified with capromyids. McKenna and Bell (1997) included the genera of the Eumysopinae within the Heteropsomyinae . West Indian spiny rats are transitional in characters between Echimyidae and Capromyidae , and here are placed in their own subfamily within the Echimyidae until the two families are revised. Molecular data ( Leite and Patton, 2002) suggest that the sister taxa of both the myocastorids and capromyids is a group of the Eumysopinae including the genera Clyomys and Euryzygomatomys , but do not allow for evaluation of the distinctiveness of a West Indian clade of spiny rats (Heteropsominae) suggested by Woods (1982). Varona (1974:73) placed all West Indian spiny rats in the genus Heteropsomys . However, there are clear differences between the forms on each island, so the original generic names are maintained here, except that Homopsomys is combined with Heteropsomys ( Woods, 1989 a, b).