Octodontidae

Octodontidae is a rodent family found exclusively in southwestern South America, comprising fourteen recognized species in seven genera, the best known being the common degu. Medium sized rodents twelve to twenty centimeters long with long, silky, typically brownish fur and a lighter underside, most octodontids are nocturnal, social burrowers, though the common degu is unusually active by day. They are herbivorous, feeding on tubers, bulbs and cacti, and the family name refers to a figure eight pattern in their tooth wear; the seven genera include Aconaemys, the rock rats, Octodon and Octodontomys, the degus, Spalacopus, the coruro, and Octomys, Pipanacoctomys and Tympanoctomys, the viscacha rats.