Although dissimilar in overall appearance, gophers have been united with kangaroo rats into a common superfamily for a considerable time.

Overall morphology, the fossil record, molecular analyses, and biogeography all support this relationship.

This condition is so pronounced and the snout so narrow in heteromyids that the infraorbital canals from either side connect.

The masseter muscle does attach directly behind the zygomatic arch in a manner very different from sciuromorphs.

Sometimes the pocket gophers and heteromyids are placed as separate subfamilies within a single family (Geomyidae).