CAVIIDAE:
CAVIINAE (Guinea Pigs & Cavies)
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The Caviidae subfamily Caviinae is recognized by Wilson and Reeder as including
three
living genera: Cavia (six species, the guinea pigs, Venezuela south
to the Straits of Magellan),
Galea (three species, the yellow-toothed cavies, central and northeastern
Brazil, southern Peru,
northern Chile, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Argentina), and Microcavia
(three species, the mountain
cavies, Andean Bolivia and northern Chile, and Argentina). The full relationship
of the domestic
guinea pig Cavia porcellus to Cavia aperea is not yet certain;
as a result the patterns of
distribution in northern South America mapped above may be incomplete (if
one also takes
into account feral populations), and/or some combination of the two forms.
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Copyright 2012 Charles
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