Hyracoidea

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. An order of monadelphian mammals, represented by the single family Hyracidæ; the hyraxes. It combines in its dentition characters of perissodactyl hoofed quadrupeds with others of rodents, the molars being like those of the rhinoceros in pattern, while the upper incisors are long, curved, and grow from persistent pulps as in the rodents. The dental formula is: 2 incisors in each half-jaw above and below, no canines, and 4 premolars and 3 molars in each upper and lower half-jaw—in all, 36. There are no clavicles. The fore feet are 4-toed, and the hind feet 3-toed; both are padded underneath, as in carnivores and rodents, not hoofed, as in ungulates; the digits end in stout flat nails. This remarkable order of mammals, of which no fossil remains are known, is the living remnant of a very generalized type, combining characters of the ungulates on the one hand and of the rodents and insectivores on the other. The animals are of about the size of rabbits, and their general appearance is suggestive of these rodents; they are known as rock-rabbits, and by other names, and the order is also called Gliriformia and Lamnunguia. See Hyracidæ and Hyrax. Also Hyraces, Hyracina.
2. Thirty-two species and subspecies of this order are now recognized, all placed in the genus Procavia (Storr, 1780), this name antedating Hyrax by three years. A fossil species, Pliohyrax krnppii, has been described from the Pliocene of Greece and the Isle of Samos, and Archæohyrax, from the Miocene of Patagonia, has been assigned to this group.

Wiktionary

1. n. A taxonomic order within the subclass Placentalia — the hyraxes.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Zoöl.) An order of small hoofed mammals, comprising the single living genus Hyrax.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. hyraxes and some extinct animals