The Muroidea are a large superfamily of

rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the order Rodentia (), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They are ...

s, including

mice A mouse ( : mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...

rat Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents. Species of rats are found throughout the order Rodentia, but stereotypical rats are found in the genus '' Rattus''. Other rat genera include ''Neotoma'' (pack rats), ''Bandicota'' (bandicoo ...

vole Voles are small rodents that are relatives of lemmings and hamsters, but with a stouter body; a longer, hairy tail; a slightly rounder head; smaller eyes and ears; and differently formed molars (high-crowned with angular cusps instead of low-c ...

hamster Hamsters are rodents (order Rodentia) belonging to the subfamily Cricetinae, which contains 19 species classified in seven genera.Fox, Sue. 2006. ''Hamsters''. T.F.H. Publications Inc. They have become established as popular small pets. The ...

s, lemmings, gerbils, and many other relatives. Although the Muroidea originated in Eurasia, they occupy a vast variety of

habitats In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

on every continent except

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...

. Some authorities have placed all members of this group into a single family, Muridae, due to difficulties in determining how the

subfamilies In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end subfamily botanical names with "-oideae", and zool ...

are related to one another. Many of the families within the Muroidea superfamily have more variations between the families than between the different clades. A possible explanation for the variations in rodents is because of the location of these rodents; these changes could have been due to radiation or the overall environment they migrated to or originated in. The following

taxonomy Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification. A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...

is based on recent well-supported molecular phylogenies. The muroids are classified in six

families Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Ideal ...

, 19

, around 280

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomencla ...

, and at least 1,750

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

Taxonomy

*Family

Platacanthomyidae The rodent family Platacanthomyidae, or Oriental dormice, includes the spiny dormice and the Chinese pygmy dormice. In spite of their appearance, these animals are not true dormice, but are part of the large and complex superfamily Muroidea. ...

( 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 image:Calo03.jpg, 200px, right image:Calo13.jpg, 200px, Mouse-like hamster using its tail for balance while standing on a branch (a feat difficult for hamsters) Mouse-like hamsters are a group of small rodents found in Syria, Azerbaijan, Iran, Tu ...

***Subfamily

Calomyscinae 200px, right 200px, Mouse-like hamster using its tail for balance while standing on a branch (a feat difficult for hamsters) Mouse-like hamsters are a group of small rodents found in Syria, Azerbaijan, Iran, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and Pakis ...

( 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 The Cricetidae are a family of rodents in the large and complex superfamily Muroidea. It includes true hamsters, voles, lemmings, muskrats, and New World rats and mice. At almost 608 species, it is the second-largest family of mammals, and ...

***Subfamily

Arvicolinae 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 ...

(

s, lemmings and muskrat) ***Subfamily Cricetinae (true

s) ***Subfamily Neotominae (North American rats and mice) ***Subfamily

Sigmodontinae The rodent subfamily Sigmodontinae includes New World rats and mice, with at least 376 species. Many authorities include the Neotominae and Tylomyinae as part of a larger definition of Sigmodontinae. When those genera are included, the spec ...

( New World rats and mice) ***Subfamily

Tylomyinae The subfamily Tylomyinae consists of several species of New World rats and mice including the vesper and climbing rats. They are not as well known as their relatives in the subfamilies Sigmodontinae and Neotominae. Many authorities place all ...

(vesper rats and climbing rats) **Family Muridae ***Subfamily

Deomyinae The subfamily Deomyinae consists of four genera of mouse-like rodents that were placed in the subfamilies Murinae and Dendromurinae until very recently. They are sometimes called the Acomyinae, particularly in references that antedate the disco ...

(spiny mice, brush furred mice, link rat) ***Subfamily

Gerbillinae Gerbillinae is one of the subfamilies of the rodent family Muridae and includes the gerbils, jirds, and sand rats. Once known as desert rats, the subfamily includes about 110 species of African, Indian, and Asian rodents, including sand rats a ...

(gerbils, jirds and sand rats) ***Subfamily

Leimacomyinae The Togo mouse (''Leimacomys buettneri''), also known as Büttner's African forest mouse or the groove-toothed forest mouse, is a unique muroid rodent known from only two specimens taken from near the type locality of Bismarckburg, near Yege, T ...

( Togo Mouse) ***Subfamily

Lophiomyinae The maned rat or (African) crested rat (''Lophiomys imhausi'') is a nocturnal, long-haired and bushy-tailed East African rodent that superficially resembles a porcupine. The world's only poisonous rodent, the maned rat borrows toxins from plants ...

( crested rat) ***Subfamily

Murinae The Old World rats and mice, part of the subfamily Murinae in the family Muridae, comprise at least 519 species. Members of this subfamily are called murines. In terms of species richness, this subfamily is larger than all mammal families excep ...

(Old World

s and

including vlei rats)

Phylogeny

5 main

clade A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...

s are recognized by Jansa & Weksler (2004). *Family Spalacidae: Spalacinae, Myospalacinae, and Rhizomyinae (

fossorial A fossorial () animal is one adapted to digging which lives primarily, but not solely, underground. Some examples are badgers, naked mole-rats, clams, meerkats, and mole salamanders, as well as many beetles, wasps, and bees. Prehistoric eviden ...

species of the

Old World The "Old World" is a term for Afro-Eurasia that originated in Europe , after Europeans became aware of the existence of the Americas. It is used to contrast the continents of Africa, Europe, and Asia, which were previously thought of by th ...

) *Family

(

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

) *Family Nesomyidae: Petromyscinae, Mystromyinae, Cricetomyinae, Nesomyinae, and core dendromurines (

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

and

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Afric ...

) *Family Muridae:

, Otomyinae,

, Acomyinae, and

(

) *Family

, and Cricetinae (

New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 3 ...

) Together, Muroidea and its

sister group In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and ...

Dipodoidea form the

suborder Order ( la, ordo) is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between family and class. In biological classification, the order is a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms and ...

Myomorpha The suborder Myomorpha contains 1,524 species of mouse-like rodents, nearly a quarter of all mammal species. Included are mice, rats, gerbils, hamsters, lemmings, and voles. They are grouped according to the structure of their jaws and molar ...

. The following

phylogeny A phylogenetic tree (also phylogeny or evolutionary tree Felsenstein J. (2004). ''Inferring Phylogenies'' Sinauer Associates: Sunderland, MA.) is a branching diagram or a tree showing the evolutionary relationships among various biological sp ...

of more than 70 Muroidea

, based on

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

analysis of the Interphotoreceptor Retinoid Binding Protein (IRBP) gene, is from Jansa & Weksler (2004: 264). Although

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

# * * * *Musser, G. G. and M. D. Carleton. 1993. Family Muridae. pp. 501–755 in Mammal Species of the World a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. D. E. Wilson and D. M. Reeder eds. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C. * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q58949 Mammal superfamilies Extant Eocene first appearances Taxa named by Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger