Five assemblages can be distinguished in the genus-level cladogram of Echimyini:
Echimys is closely related to Phyllomys, Makalata, Pattonomys and Toromys. This clade is in accordance with the fact that Phyllomys was classified within Echimys,[4] and that Pattonomys and Toromys were placed in Makalata.[5]
Dactylomys, Olallamys, and Kannabateomys share unique features, and these South American bamboo rats are grouped under the informal clade name of "Dactylomyines".[1]
Diplomys and Santamartamys are sister group, reflecting the fact that the latter genus has been split from the former.[6]
Lonchothrix and Mesomys are sister group, and have often been classified within "Eumysopines", a subfamily otherwise shown to be polyphyletic.[1]
Isothrix occupies an isolated, deep-branching position.
^Emmons, Louise Hickock (2005). "A revision of the genera of arboreal Echimyidae (Rodentia: Echimyidae, Echimyinae), with descriptions of two new genera". Mammalian Diversification: From Chromosomes to phylogeography (A Celebration of the Career of James L. Patton). Vol. 133. University of California Press. pp. 247–310. ISBN9780520098534.
^Lara, Márcia C.; Patton, James L.; da Silva, Maria Nazareth F. (1996). "The Simultaneous Diversification of South American Echimyid Rodents (Hystricognathi) Based on Complete Cytochrome b Sequences". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 5 (2): 403–413. doi:10.1006/mpev.1996.0035. PMID8728398.
^Leite, Yuri L. R.; Patton, James L. (2002). "Evolution of South American spiny rats (Rodentia, Echimyidae): the star-phylogeny hypothesis revisited". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 25 (3): 455–464. doi:10.1016/s1055-7903(02)00279-8.
^Galewski, Thomas; Mauffrey, Jean-François; Leite, Yuri L. R.; Patton, James L.; Douzery, Emmanuel J. P. (2005). "Ecomorphological diversification among South American spiny rats (Rodentia; Echimyidae): a phylogenetic and chronological approach". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 34 (3): 601–615. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2004.11.015. PMID15683932.
^Upham, Nathan S.; Patterson, Bruce D. (2012). "Diversification and biogeography of the Neotropical caviomorph lineage Octodontoidea (Rodentia: Hystricognathi)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 63 (2): 417–429. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2012.01.020. PMID22327013.
^Fabre, Pierre-Henri; Galewski, Thomas; Tilak, Marie-ka; Douzery, Emmanuel J. P. (2013-03-01). "Diversification of South American spiny rats (Echimyidae): a multigene phylogenetic approach". Zoologica Scripta. 42 (2): 117–134. doi:10.1111/j.1463-6409.2012.00572.x. ISSN1463-6409.
^Upham, Nathan S.; Patterson, Bruce D. (2015). "Evolution of Caviomorph rodents: a complete phylogeny and timetree for living genera". In Vassallo, Aldo Ivan; Antenucci, Daniel (eds.). Biology of caviomorph rodents: diversity and evolution. Buenos Aires: SAREM Series A, Mammalogical Research — Sociedad Argentina para el Estudio de los Mamíferos. pp. 63–120.