Leithiinae Lydekker, 1896

Mary Ellen Holden, 1993, Order Rodentia - Family Myoxidae, Mammal Species of the World (2 nd Edition), Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. 763-770 : 765

Subfamily Leithiinae Lydekker, 1896 . Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1895:862 [1896].

SYNONYMS: Dryomyinae, Myomiminae, Seleviniinae.

COMMENTS: Lydekker (1895) proposed the family Leithiidae to separate the giant Pleistocene dormouse of Malta from other myoxids, and Leithia for the type genus. Major (1899) argued that Leithia was in fact a myoxid, and Leithiidae a junior synonym of Myoxidae . De Bruijn (1967) proposed Dryomyinae, which included Leithia, Dryomys , Eliomys , and other genera. The International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (1985) mandates that when a nominal taxon is lowered in rank in the family group, its type genus remains the same. Because Dryomyinae de Bruijn contains Leithia , the correct name for the subfamily is Leithiinae . The results of the phylogenetic analysis by Wahlert et al. (In Press) indicated that the genera listed below form a monophyletic group composed of two tribes: Leithiini (Dryomys and Eliomys ) and Myomimini ( Myomimus and Selevinia ). All genera in Leithiinae share derived dental and osteological characters; see comments in each genus.