Talk:Octodontidae

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Untitled[edit]

Does Octodontidae mean that the animals in this family have eight teeth? If so, could that be mentioned on the page?

Probably not. The authoritative University of Michigan site states that "the cheekteeth are flat crowned, hypsodont, and distinctively "8"-shaped due to single labial and lingual folds", and I suspect that is the etymology - but speculative etymology is a trap for the unwary. seglea at 1807utc on 031112

The original description of Pipanacoctomys and Salinoctomys (nl:Pipanacoctomys and nl:Salinoctomys, if you can understand it) (Mares et al., 2000), gave the shape of those cheekteeth as the etymology for "octo" in both names, so it seems probable that that's the etymology for the other family members too. Ucucha (talk) 12:34, 10 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]