Dasyproctidae is a family of large South American rodents, comprising the agoutis and acouchis. Their fur is a reddish or dark colour above, with a paler underside. They are herbivorous, often feeding on ripe fruit that falls from trees. They live in burrows, and, like squirrels, will bury some of their food for later use.
Fossil taxa follow McKenna and Bell (1997), with modifications following Kramarz (2005).
The pacas (genus Cuniculus) are placed by some authorities (Woods, 1993;McKenna and Bell, 1997) in the Dasyproctidae, but molecular studies have demonstrated that they do not form a monophyletic group (Rowe and Honeycutt, 2002).
Dasyproctidae is a family of large South American rodents, comprising the agoutis and acouchis. Their fur is a reddish or dark colour above, with a paler underside. They are herbivorous, often feeding on ripe fruit that falls from trees. They live in burrows, and, like squirrels, will bury some of their food for later use.
Fossil taxa follow McKenna and Bell (1997), with modifications following Kramarz (2005).
The pacas (genus Cuniculus) are placed by some authorities (Woods, 1993;McKenna and Bell, 1997) in the Dasyproctidae, but molecular studies have demonstrated that they do not form a monophyletic group (Rowe and Honeycutt, 2002).