Muridae
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Muridae
The Muridae, or murids, are either the largest or second-largest family of rodents and of mammals, containing approximately 870 species, including many species of mice, rats, and gerbils found naturally throughout Eurasia, Africa, and Australia. The name Muridae comes from the Latin ' (genitive '), meaning "mouse", since all true mice belong to the family, with the more typical mice belonging to the genus ''Mus (genus), Mus''. Distribution and habitat Murids are found nearly everywhere in the world, though many subfamilies have narrower ranges. Murids are not found in Antarctica or many oceanic islands. Although none of them are native to the Americas, a few species, notably the house mouse and black rat, have been introduced worldwide. Murids occupy a broad range of ecosystems from tropical forests to tundras. Fossorial, arboreal, and semiaquatic murid species occur, though most are terrestrial animals. The extensive list of niches filled by murids helps to explain their relat ...
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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 except the Cricetidae and Muridae, and is larger than all mammal orders except the bats and the remainder of the rodents. Description The Murinae are native to Africa, Europe, Asia, and Australia. They are terrestrial placental mammals. They have also been introduced to all continents except Antarctica, and are serious pest animals. This is particularly true in island communities where they have contributed to the endangerment and extinction of many native animals. Two prominent murine species have become vital laboratory animals: the brown rat and house mouse are both used as medical subjects. The murines have a distinctive molar pattern that involves three rows of cusps instead of two, the primitive pattern seen most frequently ...
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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, Togo, in 1890. Its genus is monotypic. Description and natural history The entirety of known material for this species consists of a single, poor-quality dry skin, a fluid-preserved animal, and a cranium and mandible. The cranium and mandible are from different animals. The material is deposited in the Zoologisches Museum of Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany. The head and body length is with a tail of . This tail is unusually short relative to the body length (ratio of 37%) and is considered an important diagnostic feature. The animal is dark-to-grey brown above and pale grey brown below. Its ears are small and hairy. The feet are also somewhat hairy. The tail may be naked or slightly haired. The incisors are shallowly grooved. The ...
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Rodents
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 native to all major land masses except for Antarctica, and several oceanic islands, though they have subsequently been introduced to most of these land masses by human activity. Rodents are extremely diverse in their ecology and lifestyles and can be found in almost every terrestrial habitat, including human-made environments. Species can be arboreal, fossorial (burrowing), saltatorial/ricochetal (leaping on their hind legs), or semiaquatic. However, all rodents share several morphological features, including having only a single upper and lower pair of ever-growing incisors. Well-known rodents include mice, rats, squirrels, prairie dogs, porcupines, beavers, guinea pigs, and hamsters. Once included with rodents, rabbits, hares, and p ...
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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 and jirds, all of which are adapted to arid habitats. Most are primarily active during the day, making them diurnal (but some species, including the common household pet, exhibit crepuscular behavior), and almost all are omnivorous. The gerbil got its name as a diminutive form of "jerboa", an unrelated group of rodents occupying a similar ecological niche. Gerbils are typically between long, including the tail, which makes up about half of their total length. One species, the great gerbil (''Rhombomys opimus''), originally native to Turkmenistan, can grow to more than . The average adult gerbil weighs about . One species, the Mongolian gerbil ('' Meriones unguiculatus''), also known as the ''clawed jird'', is a gentle and hardy animal ...
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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 known poisonous rodent, the maned rat sequesters toxins from plants to fend off predators. Description The maned rat's body can grow up to long, or from head to tail. The coat consists of long, silver and black-tipped guard hairs over a dense, woolly, grey and white undercoat, with the face and limbs having short, black fur. A mane of longer, coarser black-and-white banded hairs extends from the top of the animal's head to just beyond the base of the tail. This mane is bordered by a broad, white-bordered strip of hairs covering an area of glandular skin. The forelimbs and hind limbs have short black fur. The forefeet are large and digit 1 of the forefeet does not have a claw while digits 2-5 have a well developed claw. When the animal is threatened or excited, the mane erects and this strip pa ...
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Deomyinae
The subfamily Deomyinae consists of four genera of mouse-like rodents that were previously placed in the subfamilies Murinae and Dendromurinae. They are sometimes called the Acomyinae, particularly in references that antedate the discovery that the link rat, '' Deomys ferugineus'', is part of the clade. Deomyinae is the older name and therefore has priority over Acomyinae. Deomyines share no morphological characteristics that can be used to separate them from other muroids, though subtle aspects of the third upper molar have been suggested. This subfamily is united solely on the basis of shared genetic mutations. These conclusions have demonstrated good statistical support using nuclear and mitochondrial DNA, and DNA-DNA hybridization. Because of the lack of physical characteristics supporting this group, it is very possible that the subfamily as it is currently recognized is subject to enlargement. Many of the genera currently placed in the Murinae or Dendromurinae have not ...
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Pseudocricetodontinae
Pseudocricetodontinae is a subfamily of extinct mice of the family Muridae. Pseudocricetodontinae species were common in the southeast part of Siberia. History These mice were probably the first rodent during the late Eocene The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes ... or early Oligocene in age to be in balkan area. The name Pseudocricetodontinae was coined by Burkart Engesser, a Swiss Paleontology, palaeontologist and Zoology, zoologist, in 1987. Taxonomy There has been a lot of debate over the evolution of Pseudocricetodontinae (as is the case with many mice). Many palaeontologists have been working on following the evolution of Pseudocricetodontinae. Some of the way that these palaeontologists have been trying to identify the taxonomy of this clade, is using their: ...
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Northern Luzon Giant Cloud Rat
The northern Luzon giant cloud rat (''Phloeomys pallidus'') or northern Luzon slender-tailed cloud rat, also known as ''bu-ot'' in Filipino, is a large species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is only found in Luzon, the Philippines. Appearance This very large rodent weighs and is long, including its tail. The colour of its relatively long pelage, which also covers the tail, is highly variable, but it is usually pale brown-grey or white with some dark brown or black patches. They often have a black mask and collar but can also be entirely white. The only other member of the genus ''Phloeomys'', the southern Luzon giant cloud rat (''P. cumingi''), has a more southerly distribution, is generally smaller (although with some overlap), and is entirely dark brown. However, the occasional brown Northern Luzon giant cloud rat has been reported in the Mountain Province, and the taxonomic limits between the two ''Phloeomys'' are not fully resolved. Distribution and habitat The north ...
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House Mouse
The house mouse (''Mus musculus'') is a small mammal of the rodent family Muridae, characteristically having a pointed snout, large rounded ears, and a long and almost hairless tail. It is one of the most abundant species of the genus '' Mus''. Although a wild animal, the house mouse has benefited significantly from associating with human habitation to the point that truly wild populations are significantly less common than the synanthropic populations near human activity. The house mouse has been domesticated as the pet or fancy mouse, and as the laboratory mouse, which is one of the most important model organisms in biology and medicine. The complete mouse reference genome was sequenced in 2002. Characteristics House mice have an adult body length (nose to base of tail) of and a tail length of . The weight is typically . In the wild they vary in color from grey and light brown to black (individual hairs are actually agouti coloured), but domesticated fancy mice and l ...
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Mammal
A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three Evolution of mammalian auditory ossicles, middle ear bones. These characteristics distinguish them from reptiles and birds, from which their ancestors Genetic divergence, diverged in the Carboniferous Period over 300 million years ago. Around 6,640 Neontology#Extant taxon, extant species of mammals have been described and divided into 27 Order (biology), orders. The study of mammals is called mammalogy. The largest orders of mammals, by number of species, are the rodents, bats, and eulipotyphlans (including hedgehogs, Mole (animal), moles and shrews). The next three are the primates (including humans, monkeys and lemurs), the Artiodactyl, even-toed ungulates (including pigs, camels, and whales), and the Carnivora (including Felidae, ...
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Prehensile
Prehensility is the quality of an appendage or organ that has adapted for grasping or holding. The word is derived from the Latin term ''prehendere'', meaning "to grasp". The ability to grasp is likely derived from a number of different origins. The most common are tree-climbing and the need to manipulate food. Examples Appendages that can become prehensile include: Uses Prehensility affords animals a great natural advantage in manipulating their environment for feeding, climbing, digging, and defense. It enables many animals, such as primates, to use tools to complete tasks that would otherwise be impossible without highly specialized anatomy. For example, chimpanzees have the ability to use sticks to obtain termites and grubs in a manner similar to human fishing. However, not all prehensile organs are applied to tool use; the giraffe tongue, for instance, is instead used in feeding Eating (also known as consuming) is the ingestion of food. In biology, this is typ ...
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African Pygmy Mouse
The African pygmy mouse (''Mus minutoides'') is one of the smallest rodents. It is widespread within sub-Saharan Africa, and is kept as a pet in other parts of the world. Like the common and widely introduced european house mouse, it is a member of the enormous superfamily Muroidea, which includes over 1000 different species. It forms a super- species complex with '' Mus musculoides''. Grey to brick-red overall, it is pale on the underside and has small but prominent triangular ears. Adult body length averages long, with a tail. Average adults body weight is . The African pygmy mouse reaches breeding age at about 6 to 8 weeks. Pregnancy lasts for around 20 days and the litter of about three young is born blind and hairless. Average weight of puppies at birth is Their eyes open after 2 weeks, and weaning is complete after 3 weeks. The lifespan is about 2 years, although individual specimens have been reported to live over 4 years in captivity. The African pygmy mouse has a n ...
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