Classification of Rodents

Abstract

Since the earliest classifications of mammals, rabbits and hares were considered very closely related to the rodents. Linnaeus (1758) included these groups in the same order, Glires. This arrangement was followed by nearly all of the early workers (e.g., Cuvier, 1817; Brandt, 1855). Alston (1876) recognized Linnaeus’s order with two suborders, Simplicidentata (rodents) and Duplici-dentata (lagomorphs). Gidley (1912) first named the order Lagomorpha separate from the Rodentia and considered the two orders as having had independent origins, with no special relationship. Simpson (1945) recognized the Rodentia and Lagomorpha as separate orders but maintained them in the cohort Glires. However, Simpson considered this association quite tentative because he, like Gidley, believed that there were no real characters that united these two groups and that the gliriform adaptations were merely convergences. Simpson’s view was followed by several workers (e.g., Wilson, 1949a; Dawson, 1967) and was generally accepted for many years.