Myocastor

{{Short description|Genus of rodent}} {{Automatic taxobox | fossil_range = Late Miocene - Recent | image = Nutria la (15618184115).jpg | image_caption = Nutria ''(Myocastor coypus)'' | display_parents = 2 | taxon = Myocastor | authority = Kerr, 1792 | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = *''Myocastor coypus'' *{{extinct}}''Myocastor columnaris'' *{{extinct}}''Myocastor obesus'' *{{extinct}}''Myocastor paranensis'' }}

'''''Myocastor''''' (from Ancient Greek {{wikt-lang|grc|μῦς}} ({{grc-transl|μῦς}}) 'rat, mouse', and {{wikt-lang|grc|κάστωρ}} ({{grc-transl|κάστωρ}}) 'beaver')<ref>{{Cite book|title=Abrégé du dictionnaire grec français|last=Bailly|first=Anatole|year=1981|publisher=Hachette|isbn=978-2-01-003528-9|location=Paris|oclc=461974285}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.tabularium.be/bailly/|title=Greek-French dictionary online|last=Bailly|first=Anatole|website=www.tabularium.be|access-date=2017-01-24|archive-date=2022-03-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220318000653/http://www.tabularium.be/bailly/|url-status=live}}</ref> is a genus of rodent that contains the living nutria (or coypu), as well as several fossil species.

==Taxonomy== Due to similar cranial morphology, the nutria was once considered a close relative of the Caribbean hutias and placed together with them in the family Capromyidae.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Woods |first1=C.A. |last2=Howland |first2=E.B. |title=Adaptive Radiation of Capromyid Rodents: Anatomy of the Masticatory Apparatus |journal=Journal of Mammalogy |date=1979 |volume=60 |issue=1 |pages=95–116 |doi=10.2307/1379762|jstor=1379762 }}</ref> Later, it was more accepted to place it in its own family, the Myocastoridae.<ref name="Woods1982">{{Cite book|last1=Woods |first1=C. A. | editor-last1=Mares| editor-first1=M. A.| editor-last2=Genoways| editor-first2=H. H.|title=Mammalian Biology in South America |publisher=University of Pittsburgh |year=1982 |pages=377–392 |chapter=The history and classification of South American Hystricognath rodents: reflections on the far away and long ago |location=Pittsburgh }}</ref> Recent molecular studies place them in the family Echimyidae, in the tribe Myocastorini.<ref name="Galewski2005">{{Cite journal|last1=Galewski|first1=Thomas|last2=Mauffrey|first2=Jean-François|last3=Leite|first3=Yuri L. R.|last4=Patton|first4=James L.|last5=Douzery|first5=Emmanuel J. P.|year=2005|title=Ecomorphological diversification among South American spiny rats (Rodentia; Echimyidae): a phylogenetic and chronological approach|journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution|volume=34|issue=3|pages=601–615|doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2004.11.015|pmid=15683932|bibcode=2005MolPE..34..601G }}</ref><ref name="Upham2012">{{Cite journal|last1=Upham|first1=Nathan S.|last2=Patterson|first2=Bruce D.|year=2012|title=Diversification and biogeography of the Neotropical caviomorph lineage Octodontoidea (Rodentia: Hystricognathi)|journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution|volume=63|issue=2|pages=417–429|doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2012.01.020|pmid=22327013|bibcode=2012MolPE..63..417U }}</ref><ref name="Fabre2017">{{Cite journal|last1=Fabre|first1=Pierre-Henri|last2=Upham|first2=Nathan S.|last3=Emmons|first3=Louise H.|last4=Justy|first4=Fabienne|last5=Leite|first5=Yuri L. R.|last6=Loss|first6=Ana Carolina|last7=Orlando|first7=Ludovic|last8=Tilak|first8=Marie-Ka|last9=Patterson|first9=Bruce D.|last10=Douzery|first10=Emmanuel J. P.|date=2017-03-01|title=Mitogenomic Phylogeny, Diversification, and Biogeography of South American Spiny Rats|journal=Molecular Biology and Evolution|volume=34|issue=3|pages=613–633|doi=10.1093/molbev/msw261|pmid=28025278|issn=0737-4038|doi-access=free}} {{free access}}</ref>

===Fossil record=== Kerber et al. (2013) recognize the following species as valid:<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kerber |first1=L. |title=Late Quaternary fossil record of Myocastor Kerr, 1792 (Rodentia: Hystricognathi: Caviomorpha) from Brazil with taxonomical and environmental remarks |journal=Quaternary International |date=2013 |pages=1–12 |url=https://www.academia.edu/23706392}}</ref>

*''Myocastor columnaris'' (Middle Pleistocene) *''Myocastor obesus'' (Late Miocene) *''Myocastor paranensis'' (Late Miocene)

Other species described but no longer considered valid include ''Myocastor minor'', ''Myocastor perditus'', and ''Myocastor priscus''.

==References== {{Reflist}}

Category:Rodent genera Category:Mammal genera with one living species Category:Taxa named by Robert Kerr (writer) Category:Myocastorini