Eocardiidae

 ( Caviomorpha ) 

The Eocardiidae are an extinct family of Caviomorpha from South America. The family is probably ancestral to the living family Caviidae,Kramarz, 2006 which includes cavy, maras, and and their relatives. McKenna and Bell (1997) divided eocardiids into two subfamilies, Luantinae for two of the oldest genera ( Asteromys and Luantus) and Eocardiinae for remaining genera. Kramarz (2006) has recommended the abandonment of these subfamilies, as the genera placed in Luantinae appear to represent basal eocardiids, rather than a specialized side branch. The latter hypothesis had been proposed by Wood and Patterson (1959).Wood & Patterson, 1959

Fossils of the family were found in the Colhuehuapian to Friasian Pinturas, Sarmiento, Santa Cruz, Río Jeinemeiní and Collón Curá Formations of Argentina and the Cura-Mallín Group of Chile. Eocardiidae at Fossilworks.org

• Wood, A.E. and Patterson, B. 1959. Rodents of the Deseadan Oligocene of Patagonia and the beginnings of South American rodent evolution. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology 120:281-428.

• McKenna, Malcolm C., and Bell, Susan K. 1997. Classification of Mammals Above the Species Level. Columbia University Press, New York, 631 pp.