Key to the Tribes of the Geomyinae
A Enamel investment complete and uninterrupted, even in final (adult) stages of wear; cheek teeth rooted, with crowns of medium height; third lower molar biprismatic, the two columns separated by inner and outer re-entrant folds as in lower premolar. Tribe Dikkomyini
A´ Enamel investment incomplete and discontinuous, reduced, at least in final (adult) stages of wear, to interrupted enamel plates; cheek teeth rootless and ever-growing (except in extinct genus Pliogeomys), crowns of maximum height; third lower molar monoprismatic, without trace of inner and outer re-entrant folds as in first and second lower molars.
B Upper incisors smooth, occasionally with a fine indistinct groove near inner margin of tooth; form of third upper molar same as M1 and M2, monoprismatic, anteroposteriorly compressed, and having transverse enamel plates on both anterior and posterior faces, and without suggestion of either labial or lingual re-entrant folds; basitemporal fossa absent (except for a shallow depression in one Recent species, T. townsendii); forefoot small and narrow with claws not elongated for digging. Tribe Thomomyini
B´ Upper incisors grooved, bearing either one or two sulci; form of third upper molar distinctly different from M1 and M2, fully or partially biprismatic (with a few exceptions discussed beyond), without marked anteroposterior compression (either subtriangular, elongated, suborbicular or quadriform in cross-section, but not elliptical as in M1 and M2), and having typical transverse anterior plate and two lateral plates (varying in their development, depending on taxa), but no posterior plate, and with lateral re-entrant folds usually developed, especially labial inflection (although sometimes minute in a few species, as described beyond); basitemporal fossa well-developed, although occasionally shallow or absent (primitive species of Zygogeomys); forefoot large and broad, with elongated claws for digging. Tribe Geomyini
Genotype.—Dikkomys Wood, 1936.