Kalpana Kalpana (Editor)

Muroidea

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
Kingdom  Animalia
Order  Rodentia
Scientific name  Muroidea
Rank  superfamily
Phylum  Chordata
Suborder  Myomorpha
Higher classification  Myomorpha
Muroidea httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommonsthu

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

  • Family Platacanthomyidae (spiny dormouse and pygmy dormice)
  • Family Spalacidae (fossorial muroids)
  • Subfamily Myospalacinae (zokors)
  • Subfamily Rhizomyinae (bamboo rats and root rats)
  • Subfamily Spalacinae (blind mole rats)
  • Clade Eumuroida - typical muroids
  • Family Calomyscidae
  • Subfamily Calomyscinae (mouse-like hamsters)
  • Family Nesomyidae
  • Subfamily Cricetomyinae (pouched rats and mice)
  • Subfamily Dendromurinae (African climbing mice, gerbil mice, fat mice and forest mice)
  • Subfamily Mystromyinae (white-tailed rat)
  • Subfamily Nesomyinae (Malagasy rats and mice)
  • Subfamily Petromyscinae (rock mice and the climbing swamp mouse)
  • Family Cricetidae
  • Subfamily Arvicolinae (voles, lemmings and muskrat)
  • Subfamily Cricetinae (true hamsters)
  • Subfamily Neotominae (North American rats and mice)
  • Subfamily Sigmodontinae (New World rats and mice)
  • Subfamily Tylomyinae
  • Family Muridae
  • Subfamily Deomyinae (spiny mice, brush furred mice, link rat)
  • Subfamily Gerbillinae (gerbils, jirds and sand rats)
  • Subfamily Leimacomyinae (Togo Mouse)
  • Subfamily Lophiomyinae (crested rat)
  • Subfamily Murinae (Old World rats and mice including vlei rats)
  • Phylogeny

    5 main clades are recognized by Jansa & Weksler (2004).

  • Family Spalacidae: Spalacinae, Myospalacinae, and Rhizomyinae (fossorial species of the Old World)
  • Family Calomyscidae: Calomyscinae (Asia)
  • Family Nesomyidae: Petromyscinae, Mystromyinae, Cricetomyinae, Nesomyinae, and core dendromurines (Africa and Madagascar)
  • Family Muridae: Murinae, Otomyinae, Gerbillinae, Acomyinae, and Lophiomyinae (Old World)
  • Family Cricetidae: Sigmodontinae, Arvicolinae, and Cricetinae (New World)
  • 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.

    References

    Muroidea Wikipedia