Horned gopher

Horned gopher Temporal range: 15 - 5 Ma
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Rodentia
Suborder:	Sciuromorpha
Superfamily:	Aplodontoidea
Family:	Mylagaulidae
Genus:	Ceratogaulus Matthew, 1902
Species
Ceratogaulus rhinocerus Ceratogaulus anecdotus Ceratogaulus minor Ceratogaulus hatcheri

The horned gophers any of the various members of the extinct rodent genus Ceratogaulus (syn.: Epigaulus), of the family Mylagaulidae. As their common name indicates, all species had a pair of relatively stout horns that emanated from the nose. Horned gophers are the smallest known mammals to have true horns, the only known genus of horned rodent, and the only known genus of horned fossorial mammals, aside from one fossil genus of armadillo, Peltephilus. They were native to what is now the Great Plains of North America.

The role of the horns is subject to much speculation; possibilities include digging (although this has largely been ruled out by the horns' position and orientation, as well as a lack of wear suggesting digging activity), sexual display or combat, and defense from predators. As both genders had identical-looking horns, they seem unlikely to have played a role in sexually dimorphic, their role in defense seems most likely.

External links

• Article on the adaptive role of horns in Mylagaulidae (.pdf file; requires Adobe Acrobat)
• Review of Miocene (Hemingfordian to Clarendonian) mygaulid rodents (Mammalia) from Nebraska
• The Paleobiology Database: Ceratogaulus