Solenodons (meaning "slotted-tooth") are
venomous,
nocturnal, burrowing,
insectivorous mammals belonging to the
family Solenodontidae. Only one
genus,
Solenodon, is known, although a few other genera were erected at one time and are now regarded as
junior synonyms. Solenodontidae is interesting to
phylogenetics researchers because of its retention of primitive mammal characteristics; their species resemble very closely those that lived near the end of the age of the dinosaurs. They are one of two families of
Caribbean soricomorphs; it is uncertain whether the other family,
Nesophontidae, which went extinct during the
Holocene, was closely related to solenodons.
