Cavy

Caviidae is a diverse family of South American rodents characterized by a short or rudimentary tail, large head, and continuously growing, flat-crowned jaw teeth, with twenty teeth in total. Well-known members are the domestic guinea pig and the capybara (although the capybara is sometimes placed in its own family of Hydrochaeridae). The family includes both members with stout bodies, short limbs, and short ears, and members with more rabbit-like bodies with long ears and long limbs.

Cavy (plural cavies) is the common name often applied to members of this family, although this term may be more specifically applied only to certain members of Caviidae, and in particular members of the genus Cavia. The more technical name used for members of this family are cavids, or less commonly caviids. There are about six genera and 15 species in Caviidae. They are found across the continent, in open areas from moist savanna to thorn forests or scrub desert.

Description

Guinea pigs (Cavia porcellus) belong to the subfamily Caviinae of the family Caviidae.

Members of the rodent family Caviidae are morphologically diverse. Some are stockily built with short legs, while others are rabbit-like with slender and long-legs. Some have sharp, clawed digits while others have hoof-like nails. Some appear tailless, with but a vestigial or rudimentary tail, while others have a short tail. While the fur is typically short, some have long hair (Honeycut 2004).

Likewise, cavids also range considerably in size from just 200 grams (7 ounces) and a head and body length of just 150 millimeters (5.9 inches) in length to those weighing 16 kilograms (35.3 pounds) and 750 millimeters in length (29.5 inches). When capybaras are also included in Caviidae, as is common in current taxonomies, the upper range is expanded considerably, as capybaras are the largest extant rodents. They may grow more than four feet (130 centimeters) long and 50 centimeters tall (1.6 feet), and commonly weigh more than 50 kilograms (110 pounds) (NZP 2007; Magalhaes 1992). Even larger forms existed in the Pliocene, such as Phugatherium, which was about the size of a tapir (Savage and Long 1986).

Among characteristics that unite the group are the presence of twenty total teeth according to the formula 1/1, 0/0/, 1/1, 3/3 and the fact that the teeth of cavids are high-crowned and ever-growing.

1.0.1.3

The cheekteeth converge strongly anteriorly and, with the exception of the third molar, all teech have a pattern of two prisms, formed by one labial and one lingual reentrant fold. The tail is short or vestigial and the skulls have well-developed bullae and a substantial paroccipital process. The mandibles have a masseteric crest that is well-developed and runs high along the sides, separated by a deep groove from the toothrow (Gorog and Myers 2000).

Three subfamilies commonly are recognized. The subfamily Caviinae includes the small, tailess, short-legged, short-eared, robust-bodied cavies and guinea pig, comprising the genera Cavia, Microcavia, and Galea (Myers et al. 2008; Honeycutt 2004). The caviines (subfamily Caviinae) range in size from 150 to 400 millimeters (5.9-15.7 inches) and 200 to 600 grams (7.0-21.2 ounces) (Honeycutt 2004); they have nails that are short and either blunt or sharp (Gorog and Myers 2000). The subfamily Dolichotinae includes the more rabbit-like, long-limbed, long-eared maras (or Patagonian hares), of genera Dolichotis (Myers et al. 2008). These range in size from 450 to 750 millimeters (17.7-29.5 inches) and 1-16 kilograms (2.2-35.3 pounds) (Honeycutt 2004); they have nails that are hoof-like on the hindfeet and claw-like on the forefeet (Gorog and Myers 2000). The subfamily Hydrochoerinae includes the rock cavies and the capybara, comprising the genera Hydrochoerus and Kerodon (Myers et al. 2008).

However, some taxonomies recognize only two subfamilies, that of Caviinae and Dolichotinae, and the capybara is placed into its own family, Hydrochaeridae. Furthermore, traditionally the genus Kerodon (rock cavies) has been considered a member of the subfamily Caviinae along with the guinea pigs and other cavies. Nonetheless, Molecular results have suggested that Kerodon is most closely related to the capybara, and that the two evolved from within the Caviidae (Rowe and Honeycutt 2002). This led Woods and Kilpatrick (2005) to unite the two into the subfamily Hydrochoerinae within the Caviidae. Using a molecular clock approach, Opazo (2005) suggested that Kerodon diverged from Hydrochoerus (the capybara) in the late Middle Miocene.

Some taxonomies also recognize another genus, Pediolagus within the genus Dolichotinae, recognizing the salt-desert cavy, Dolichotis salinicola, as the species Pediolagus salinicola; yet others suggest placing both Kerodon and Hydrochaeris within the subfamily Dolichotinae (Honeycutt 2004).

Distribution and habitat

Cavids are broadly distributed throughout South America. They are found from low elevations up to 5000 meters (16, 400 feet) in grassland, semiarid thorn shrub, savanna, forest edge, riperian forest, rocky outcrops, and cultivated areas (Honeycutt 2004). Cavia, with from five to eight species, is the most widely distributed genus, found from Colombia to Argentina. Rock cavies (Kerodon rupestris) is highly adapted for climbing rocks and trees, with its padded feet and nail-like digits, and is confined to rocky outcrops in Brazil (Honeycutt 2004). The mountain cavy, cuis, and mara excavate burrows (Honeycutt 2004).

Behavior and diet

Caviids are herbivores, eating tough grasses or softer leaves, depending on species.

Females give birth to two or three furred and active young after a gestation period of 50 to 90 days in most species, or 150 days in the capybara. In most species, they are sexually mature within a few months of birth, although in capybaras, maturity is not reached until around 18 months (Herrera et al. 2984).

Social organization varies widely within the group. Many cavies are promiscuous, forming no long-lasting social groups, although, in some species, males maintain harems of two or more females. In contrast, maras are monogamous, and form temporary colonial creches to care for the young of multiple mothers. Capybaras live in groups of around ten individuals, and sometimes many more, each with a single dominant male, and a number of females, subordinate males, and juveniles (Herrera et al. 1984).

Classification

Family Caviidae

Subfamily Caviinae: Guinea pigs (cavies)
- Genus Cavia, this genus is especially called cavy.
- Genus Galea
- Genus Microcavia: Desert cavies
Subfamily Dolichotinae
- Genus Dolichotis: Patagonian hares, or maras
Subfamily Hydrochoerinae
- Genus Hydrochoerus: Capybara
- Genus Kerodon: Rock cavy

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

Chester Zoo (CZ). 2007. [http://www.chesterzoo.org/animals.asp?ID=36 Capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris). Chester Zoo. Retrieved September 27, 2007.

Gorog, T. and P. Myers. 2000. Caviidae. (On-line), Animal Diversity Web. Accessed February 11, 2009 at http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Caviidae.html.

^[1].

Magalhães, N. W. de. 1992. Conheça o Pantanal [Know the Pantanal]. São Paulo: Terragraph.

Myers, P., R. Espinosa, C. S. Parr, T. Jones, G. S. Hammond, and T. A. Dewey. 2008. Family Caviidae (cavies) The Animal Diversity Web (online). Accessed February 11, 2009 at http://animaldiversity.org. http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/classification/Caviidae.html#Caviidae

National Zoological Park (NZP). 2007. Capybara facts. Smithsonian National Zoological Park. Retrieved September 27, 2007.

Opazo, J. C. 2005. A molecular timescale for Caviomorph rodents (Mammalia, Hystricognathi). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 37:932-937.

Rowe, D. L. and R. L. Honeycutt. 2002. Phylogenetic relationships, ecological correlates, and molecular evolution within the Cavioidea (Mammalia, Rodentia). Molecular Biology and Evolution, 19:263-277.

^[2].

Woods, C. A. and C. W. Kilpatrick. 2005. Infraorder Hystricognathi. Pp 1538-1600 in Mammal Species of the World A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (D. E. Wilson and D. M. Reeder eds.). Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press.

Woods, C. A. and C. W. Kilpatrick. 2005. Pp 1538-1600 in Mammal Species of the World a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference 3rd ed. D. E. Wilson and D. M. Reeder eds. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C.

Rodent Families

Anomaluromorpha: Anomaluridae | †Parapedetidae | Pedetidae

† indicates extinct taxa

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↑ Herrera, E., Lacher, T.E., Macdonald, D., & Taber, A.B. (1984). in Macdonald, D.: The Encyclopedia of Mammals. New York: Facts on File, 690–699. ISBN 0-87196-871-1.
↑ Savage, RJG, & Long, MR (1986). Mammal Evolution: an illustrated guide. New York: Facts on File, 125–126. ISBN 0-8160-1194-X.

[EoM-1] Herrera, E., Lacher, T.E., Macdonald, D., & Taber, A.B. (1984). in Macdonald, D.: The Encyclopedia of Mammals. New York: Facts on File, 690–699. ISBN 0-87196-871-1.

[MamEv-2] Savage, RJG, & Long, MR (1986). Mammal Evolution: an illustrated guide. New York: Facts on File, 125–126. ISBN 0-8160-1194-X.

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