Family HETEROMYIDAE

(POCKET MICE, KANGAROO MICE AND KANGAROO RATS)

• Small, non-fossorial nocturnal rodents with external, fur-lined cheek pouches.

• 10-35 cm.

• Nearctic and Neotropical Regions.

• From arid deserts to humid tropical forests, including grasslands and chaparral, from cold temperate zones to tropics, from sea level to 3200 m.

• 5 genera, 66 species, 319 axa.

• 1 species Critically Endangered, 6 species Endangered, 4 species Vulnerable; none Extinct since 1600.