Rhizomyidae

Rhizomyidae
Scientific classification
Domain: Eukaryota Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Rodentia Family: Rhizomyidae
Genera
Rhizomys Cannomys Tachyoryctes

The family Rhizomyidae of rodents includes the Asian bamboo rats and certain of the African mole rats.

The family is grouped with numerous others into the superfamily Myomorpha, one of the major subdivisions of the rodents. Some authors now prefer to treat it not as a family, but as a subfamily (Rhizomyinae) of the family Muridae, which then absorbs several other small families of myomorphic rodents.

Whether treated as a family or a subfamily, however, the group includes 6 species classified in 3 genera:

• Rhizomys (Bamboo Rats; 3 species)
• Cannomys (Lesser Bamboo Rat; 1 species, C. badius)
• Tachyoryctes (African Mole-rats; 2 species)

Note that the Rhizomyidae do not include two other groups which also have the common name mole rats and are also found in Africa. The closely related family Spalacidae consists of mole-like rodents found in Africa and the Middle East; these are also Myomorphic rodents. The family Bathyergidae, or African Mole-rats (including the well-known Naked Mole Rat), belong to the other major division of the rodents, the Hystricomorphs.

All the rhizomyids are bulky, slow-moving, burrowing animals, the Rhizomys species being the largest and stockiest. They vary in length from 150 to 480mm (head and body) with a tail of 50 to 200mm, and their weights are from 150g to 4Kg, depending on the species. They mainly feed on the underground parts of plants, which they reach from foraging burrows. They are rarely active above ground, and if they do come out of their extensive burrow systems, it is at twilight or during the night. They are similar to the pocket gophers but lack cheek pouches. All are to some extent agricultural pests, attacking food crops, and are therefore hunted; the Asian species are eaten in the areas where they are found, while the skins of the African species are used as amulets.