Mountain Degu

Open encyclopedia reference

The mountain degu (Octodontomys gliroides), also known as the Andean degu, is a species of rodent in the family Octodontidae. It is the only species in the genus Octodontomys. It is a medium-sized rodent with long, silky grey-brown fur, large grey ears, and white-furred chin and underparts. It is found in the foothills of the Andes in Argentina, Bolivia and Chile, and closely resembles the mountain viscacha rat and viscacha rats in the genus Tympanoctomys, all of which are found in Argentina. It is an herbivore, and eats grasses, leaves, bark, and cacti. The mountain degu gets most of its water from eating the tissues of prickly pear cactuses and cactuses in the genus Cereus. The mountain degu is a social animal, though not as much as the related common degu, and lives in family units of two to four individuals that share a burrow, play together, and take dust baths in turn with each other. Mountain degus have no special ability to dig with their claws, and their burrows are often short.

Wikipedia contributors, Mountain degu; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T03:07:19.471692+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Octodontomys gliroides (Gervais & d'Orbigny, 1844)

Name authority

(Gervais & d'Orbigny, 1844)

Common name

Mountain Degu

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Mammalia

Order

Rodentia

Family

Octodontidae

Genus

Octodontomys

Extinction status

Recorded extant

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. megaclassTetrapoda
8. classMammalia Linnaeus, 1758
9. subclassTheria Parker & Haswell, 1897
10. infraclassEutheria Gill, 1872
11. orderRodentia Bowdich, 1821
12. suborderHystricomorpha Brandt, 1855
13. infraorderHystricognathi Brandt, 1855
14. familyOctodontidae Waterhouse, 1840
15. genusOctodontomys Palmer, 1903
16. speciesOctodontomys gliroides (Gervais & d'Orbigny, 1844)

Close classified relatives

No other member of this genus is present in the selected snapshot.

Browse 11 records assigned to Octodontidae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Documented distribution

Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

1. https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=584783 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:48JW6. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.