Scientific name Muroidea | ||
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Lifespan Golden hamster: 2 – 3 years, Brown rat: 2 years Mass House mouse: 19 g, Golden hamster: 120 – 120 g Gestation period House mouse: 20 days Lower classifications Hamster, Rat, Mouse, Arvicolinae, Murids | ||
The Muroidea are a large superfamily of rodents, including mice, rats, voles, hamsters, gerbils, and many other relatives. They occupy a vast variety of habitats on every continent except Antarctica. Some authorities have placed all members of this group into a single family, Muridae, due to difficulties in determining how the subfamilies are related to one another. The following taxonomy is based on recent well-supported molecular phylogenies.
Contents
The muroids are classified in six families, 19 subfamilies, around 280 genera, and at least 1300 species.
Taxonomy
Phylogeny
5 main clades are recognized by Jansa & Weksler (2004).
Together, Muroidea and its sister group Dipodoidea form the suborder Myomorpha.
The following phylogeny of more than 70 Muroidea genera, based on molecular phylogenetic analysis of the Interphotoreceptor Retinoid Binding Protein (IRBP) gene, is from Jansa & Weksler (2004: 264). Although Platacanthomyidae was not analyzed by Jansa & Weksler (2004), a study by Fabre et al. 2012 suggests that it is the most basal lineage of Muroidea.