Pedetidae is a family

Family

In human context, a family is a group of people affiliated by consanguinity, affinity, or co-residence. In most societies it is the principal institution for the socialization of children...

 of mammal

Mammal

Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...

s from the rodent

Rodent

Rodentia is an order of mammals also known as rodents, characterised by two continuously growing incisors in the upper and lower jaws which must be kept short by gnawing....

 order. The two living species, the springhare

Springhare

The springhare , or springhaas, is not actually a hare, but a member of the order Rodentia. It is one of a number of species in the genus Pedetes, and is native to southern Africa. Synonyms are P. caffer or P...

s, are distributed throughout much of southern Africa and also around Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. Fossils have been found as far north as Turkey. Together with the anomalure

Anomalure

Anomaluridae is a family of rodents found in central Africa. They are known as anomalures or scaly-tailed squirrels. There are seven extant species, classified into three genera...

s, Pedetidae forms the suborder Anomaluromorpha

Anomaluromorpha

Anomaluromorpha is the name given to a clade that unites the anomalures with the springhare. It has alternately been designated as either a suborder or infraorder...

. The fossil genus Parapedetes is also related.

Genera

The family includes one living and one extinct genus. The Asian fossil Diatomys

Diatomys

Diatomys is a hystricomorphous sciurognathous rodent known from Miocene deposits in China, Japan, Pakistan, and Thailand. The fossil range is from the late Early Miocene to the Middle Miocene .- Specimens :...

was previously included, but is now classified in the family Diatomyidae

Diatomyidae

Diatomyidae is a family of hystricomorphous, sciurognathous rodents found in Asia. It is currently represented by a single known living species, Laonastes aenigmamus.- "Lazarus effect" :...

 with the Laotian rock rat

Laotian rock rat

The Laotian rock rat or kha-nyou , sometimes called the "rat-squirrel", is a rodent species of the Khammouan region of Laos. The species was first described in a 2005 article by Paulina Jenkins and coauthors, who considered the animal to be so distinct from all living rodents that they placed it...

.

• Pedetes
  Pedetes
  Pedetes is a genus of rodent in the Pedetidae family. Members of the genus are distributed across southern Africa and also occur in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.-Species:...
  
  Illiger
  Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger
  Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger was a German entomologist and zoologist.Illiger was the son of a merchant in Brunswick. He studied under the entomologist Johann Hellwig, and later worked on the zoological collections of Johann Centurius Hoffmannsegg...
  
  , 1811 (Early Pliocene to Recent in Africa)
• Megapedetes
  Megapedetes
  Megapedetes is a genus of fossil rodents related to the springhare and other species of the genus Pedetes, with which it forms the family Pedetidae. At least four species are known, which ranged through Africa, southwestern Asia, and southeastern Europe from the Miocene to the Pliocene...
  
  Macinnes, 1957 (Early to Middle Miocene in Africa, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Turkey)

Further reading

• http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/Browser/wwwtax.cgi?mode=Info&id=10021&lvl=3&lin=f&keep=1&srchmode=1&unlock
• http://www.eol.org/external_link?url=http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/name/Pedetidae
• Incisor enamel microstructure and phylogenetic interrelationships of Pedetidae and Ctenodactyloidea (Rodentia).
• Einiges zur Haltung und Zucht Hornchenartiger (Sciuromorpha) im Zoologischen Garten.
• Postcranial morphology and springing adaptations in Pedetidae from Arrisdrift, Middle Miocene (Namibia).
• Pelvic shape in gliding rodents: implications for the launch.
• Tracking genome organization in rodents by Zoo-FISH.
• Feldhamer, G. A., L. C. Drickamer, S. H. Vessey, and J. F. Merritt. 1999. Mammalogy. Adaptation, Diversity, and Ecology. WCB McGraw-Hill, Boston. xii+563pp.
• McLaughlin, C. A. 1984. Protrogomorph, sciuromorph, castorimorph, myomorph (geomyoid, anomaluroid, pedetoid, and ctenodactyloid) rodents. Pp. 267-288 in Anderson, S. and J. K. Jones, Jr. (eds). Orders and Families of Recent Mammals of the World. John Wiley and Sons, N.Y. xii+686 pp.
• Paradiso, J. L. 1975. Walker's Mammals of the World, Third Edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.
• Savage, R. J. G. and M. R. Long. 1986. Mammal Evolution, an Illustrated Guide. Facts of File Publications, New York. 259 pp.
• Vaughan, T. A. 1986. Mammalogy. Third Edition. Saunders College Publishing, Fort Worth. vii+576 pp.
• Vaughan, T. A., J. M. Ryan, N. J. Czaplewski. 2000. Mammalogy. Fourth Edition. Saunders College Publishing, Philadelphia. vii+565pp.
• Wilson, D. E., and D. M. Reeder. 1993. Mammal Species of the World, A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. 2nd edition. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington. xviii+1206 pp.