The account of the Tucan or Indian mole by Hernandez (sometimes listed as Fernandez) in 1651 probably is the earliest published one of a geomyid (see Merriam, 1895:201; Coues, 1877:607-608). Linnaeus in 1758 did not mention geomyids. In 1772, Kerr described Hernandez's Tucan under the name Sorex mexicana on the basis of Hernandez's account without having seen any specimens. Lichtenstein in 1827 applied the technical name Ascomys mexicana to three specimens collected by Deppe from unknown localities on the tableland of México. Merriam (loc. cit.) pointed out that the name mexicanus of Lichtenstein in 1827 is a nomen nudum, and that it is preoccupied by mexicanus used by Kerr in 1792. The latter can not be technically identified with any particular species of geomyid.
Bartram in 1791 wrote of the pocket gopher of Florida, without formally describing it. The first available technical name is Mus bursarius of Shaw in 1800. Rafinesque in 1817 proposed the first generic names for the geomyids when he described Geomys and Diplostoma. In 1839, Waterhouse referred the genus Geomys to his family Arvicolidae, considered by him to be a subgroup of muroids. In 1841, he suggested that Geomys was related to Bathyergus and Spalax. Waterhouse in 1848 (p. 8) treated the pocket gophers as a subgroup of rodents under the group name Saccomyina, in which he included the genera Heteromys, Saccomys, Perognathus, and Dipodomys. Hence, Waterhouse was the first to recognize the relationship between the heteromyids and geomyids. In the next year Gervais erected the family Pseudostomidae for a group of specialized squirrels to include Geomys and Thomomys and the same genera (at least in part) of heteromyids that Waterhouse classified in the "family" Saccomyina.
In 1839 the name Thomomys was proposed by Maximilian (Wied-Neuwied). All of the generic names previously proposed for pocket gophers were considered by subsequent authors to be synonyms of Geomys.
A third family name, Sciurospalacoides, was proposed by Brandt (1855:188) who referred Geomys and Thomomys to that family. He placed his new family phylogenetically between the family Sciuridae and the family Spalacoides (a group in which Brandt included the genera Spalax, Sipheus, and Ellobius). Brandt took exception to the classification of Waterhouse (1848), who united the geomyids and heteromyids in one family. Brandt placed the heteromyid genera in other groups: Perognathus in the Muridae, and Macrocolus [= Dipodomys] in the Macrolini, a subfamily of the family Dipodoides.
Modern classification of the pocket gophers begins with Baird in 1858. The important classifications are summarized in [Table 1]; a few that do not depart essentially from those listed have been omitted owing to limited space for the tabular arrangement, but are discussed in the following account.
Baird probably was strongly influenced by the arrangement proposed by Waterhouse in 1848, but was opposed to separating geomyids from heteromyids as was done by Brandt. Baird was convinced of the close relationship of the geomyids and heteromyids, and referred both groups to one family, the Saccomyidae, as Waterhouse had done earlier. In order to recognize the morphological specializations he used two subfamilies, Geomyinae and the Saccomyinae. In the 20 years that followed, some authors followed Brandt and others followed Baird.
Gill, in 1872 (p. 71), proposed a classification essentially like Baird's of 1858, but Gill raised Baird's subfamilies to the rank of family (see [Table 1]). In referring all pocket gophers to the Geomyidae, Gill used that name as a family term for the first time. Also he established the superfamily Saccomyoidea to include his two families, Geomyidae and Saccomyidae; therefore, the Saccomyoidea was equivalent to the group Saccomyina of Waterhouse (1848) and the Saccomyidae of Baird (1858). Coues (1877), in his classic monograph of the Geomyidae followed the arrangement proposed by Gill in treating the pocket gophers as a family. Alston in 1876 proposed another classification based on Baird (1858), with two subfamilies, the Geomyinae and the Heteromyinae, united together in the family Geomyidae; thus, he recognized that the genus Saccomys Frédéric Cuvier, 1823, was a synonym of Heteromys Desmarest, 1817, as had been pointed out by Gray (1868:201) and Peters (1874:356). Coues (1877:487-490) acknowledged the invalidity of the genus Saccomys, but refused to give up the name in supergeneric classification. Winge, first in 1887 and subsequently in 1924, classified the geomyids and heteromyids together in the family Saccomyidae as did Baird in 1858, and like Coues, Winge too ignored the synonymy of Saccomys with Heteromys and insisted on retaining the technical terms Saccomyidae and Saccomyini.
Up to the time of Merriam's classic revision of the Recent Geomyidae in 1895 all the known species of living pocket gophers were referred to two genera, Geomys and Thomomys. Merriam described much new material, especially from México and Central America, and proposed seven new genera (see [Table 1]). His complete and detailed study of the dentitions and osteology of the skull remains today as the definitive work on this subject, and is the point where most studies of the Geomyidae must begin. His treatment of the Recent genera survived for 52 years without change until Hooper (1946:397) arranged Platygeomys as a synonym of Cratogeomys. However, Merriam's genera have been recognized in all subsequent classifications except for the current review (see [Table 1]).