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Arvicolinae
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Kingdom
Animalia
Scientific name
Arvicolinae
Mass
Muskrat: 0.6 – 2 kg
Higher classification
Cricetidae
Order
Rodentia
Length
Muskrat: 40 – 70 cm
Phylum
Chordata
Rank
Subfamily
Lower classifications
Microtus, European water vole, Common vole, Bank vole, Lemming
The Arvicolinae are a subfamily of rodents that includes the voles, lemmings, and muskrats. They are most closely related to the other subfamilies in the Cricetidae (comprising the hamsters and New World rats and mice). Some authorities place the subfamily Arvicolinae in the family Muridae along with all other members of the superfamily Muroidea. Some refer to the subfamily as the Microtinae or rank the taxon as a full family, the Arvicolidae.
The Arvicolinae are the most populous group of Rodentia in the Northern Hemisphere. They often are found in fossil occlusions of bones cached by past predators such as owls and other birds of prey. Fossils of this group are often used for biostratigraphic dating of archeological sites in North America and Europe.
Description
The most convenient distinguishing feature of the Arvicolinae is the nature of their molar teeth, which have prismatic cusps in the shape of alternating triangles. These molars are an adaptation to a herbivorous diet in which the major food plants include a large proportion of abrasive materials such as phytoliths; the teeth get worn down by abrasion throughout the adult life of the animal and they grow continuously in compensation.
Arvicolinae are Holarctic in distribution and represent one of only a few major muroid radiations to reach the New World via Beringia. (The others are the three subfamilies of New World rats and mice.) Arvicolines do very well in the subnival zone beneath the winter snowpack, and persist throughout winter without needing to hibernate. They are also characterized by extreme fluctuations in population size.
Most arvicolines are small, furry, short-tailed voles or lemmings, but some, such as Ellobius and Hyperacrius, are well adapted to a fossorial lifestyle. Others, such as Ondatra, Neofiber, and Arvicola, have evolved larger body sizes and are associated with an aquatic lifestyle.
Phylogeny
The phylogeny of Arvicolinae has been studied using morphological and molecular characters. Markers for the molecular phylogeny of arvicolines included the mitochondrial DNA cytochrome b (cyb) gene and the exon 10 of the growth hormone receptor (ghr) nuclear gene. The comparison of the cyb and ghr phylogenetic results seems to indicate nuclear genes are useful for resolving relationships of recently evolved animals. As compared to mitochondrial genes, nuclear genes display several informative sites in third codon positions that evolve rapidly enough to accumulate synapomorphies, but slow enough to avoid evolutionary noise. Of note, mitochondrial pseudogenes translocated within the nuclear genome complicate the assessment of the mitochondrial DNA orthology, but they can also be used as phylogenetic markers. Sequencing complete mitochondrial genomes of voles may help to distinguish between authentical genes and pseudogenes.
The complementary phylogenetic analysis of morphological and molecular characters suggests:
Ellobius, Prometheomys, and Lagurus are among the most basal arvicolines.
Dicrostonyx, Phenacomys, and Arborimus may form a clade.
Core arvicolines include three subclades:
Lemmini: Synaptomys, Lemmus, Myopus
Clethrionomyini: Eothenomys, Myodes
Arvicolini: Arvicola, Chionomys, Stenocranius and Microtus
