biology

List of capromyids

List of capromyids is a biology topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand List of capromyids rather than just read about it. In short: Capromyidae is a family of mammals in the order Rodentia and part of the Caviomorpha parvorder. Members of this family are called capromyids or hutias.

Key takeaways

List of capromyids belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect List of capromyids to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of List of capromyids from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Capromyidae is a family of mammals in the order Rodentia and part of the Caviomorpha parvorder. Members of this family are called capromyids or hutias. They are found in the Caribbean on Cuba, Hispaniola, and nearby islands. They live primarily in forests, wetlands, and rocky areas, though some species can be found in shrublands, caves, and coastal areas. They range in size from the dwarf hutia, at 20 cm (8 in) plus a 17 cm (7 in) tail, to Desmarest's hutia, at 62 cm (24 in) plus a 31 cm (12 in) tail. Capromyids are omnivores and eat leaves, fruit, bark, and small animals. Most extant capromyids do not have population estimates, but two species—the Jamaican coney and eared hutia—are categorized as endangered species, and four—the Bahamian hutia, Cabrera's hutia, dwarf hutia, and San Felipe hutia—are categorized as critically endangered with adult populations of 100 or fewer. Eight species, including the subfamilies Hexolobodontinae and Isolobodontinae, were driven extinct after 1500 due to the European colonization of the Americas and introduction of non-native rats, with some species surviving until the 1900s. The ten extant species of Capromyidae are divided into two subfamilies: Capromyinae, containing nine species in four genera; and Plagiodontinae, with a single species. In addition to the two extinct subfamilies, Capromyinae contains two species and Plagiodontinae three species made extinct since 1500. Capromyidae has been proposed to be merged into the family Echimyidae as the subfamily Capromyinae, with its subfamilies converted to lesser clades, but the proposal is not yet universally accepted. A few extinct prehistoric capromyid species have been discovered, though due to ongoing research and discoveries, the exact number and categorization is not fixed.

Conventions

The author citation for the species or genus is given after the scientific name; parentheses around the author citation indicate that this was not the original taxonomic placement. Conservation status codes listed follow the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species. Range maps are provided wherever possible; if a range map is not available, a description of the capromyid's range is provided. Ranges are based on the IUCN Red List for that species unless otherwise noted. All extinct species, subspecies, or genera listed alongside extant species went extinct after 1500 CE, and are indicated by a dagger symbol: "†".

Classification

Capromyidae is a family consisting of ten extant species in five genera. These species are divided into two subfamilies: Capromyinae, containing nine species in four genera, and Plagiodontinae, with a single species. Additionally, the subfamilies Hexolobodontinae, containing a single species, and Isolobodontinae, containing two species in a single genus, as well as two species in Capromyinae and three species in Plagiodontinae, were driven extinct during the modern era due to the European colonization of the Americas, with some species surviving until the 1900s.

Family Capromyidae Subfamily Capromyinae Genus Capromys (Desmarest's hutia): one species Genus Geocapromys (Bahamian and Jamaican hutias): four species (two extinct) Genus Mesocapromys (Small Cuban hutias): five species Genus Mysateles (prehensile-tailed hutia): one species Subfamily Hexolobodontinae † Genus Hexolobodon † (imposter hutia): one species (one extinct) Subfamily Isolobodontinae † Genus Isolobodon † (laminar-toothed hutias): two species (two extinct) Subfamily Plagiodontinae Genus Hyperplagiodontia † (wide-toothed hutia): one species (one extinct) Genus Plagiodontia (Hispaniolan hutias): two species (one extinct) Genus Rhizoplagiodontia † (Lemke's hutia): one species (one extinct)

Capromyids The following classification is based on the taxonomy described by the reference work Mammal Species of the World (2005), with augmentation by generally accepted proposals made since using molecular phylogenetic analysis, as supported by both the IUCN and the American Society of Mammalogists.

Subfamily Capromyinae

Subfamily Hexolobodontinae

Subfamily Isolobodontinae

Subfamily Plagiodontinae

References

Sources

Illustrations

List of capromyids: Capromyidae distribution — Capromyidae distribution

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with List of capromyids

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what List of capromyids claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to List of capromyids before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about List of capromyids ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of List of capromyids

In research: List of capromyids appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses List of capromyids in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: List of capromyids is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Hutias, Lists of animal species, Lists of rodents, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for List of capromyids outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “List of capromyids” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study List of capromyids in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what List of capromyids means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain List of capromyids out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is List of capromyids in simple terms?

Capromyidae is a family of mammals in the order Rodentia and part of the Caviomorpha parvorder. Members of this family are called capromyids or hutias.

Why does List of capromyids matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study List of capromyids?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on List of capromyids.