Ellobiusini is a

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

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 lo ...

s containing two genera: ''

Ellobius ''Ellobius'' is a genus of rodents in the family Cricetidae. It contains two ('' E. talpinus'' and '' E. tancrei'') of the handful of examples of mammal species that have lost the Y chromosome The Y chromosome is one of two sex chromosomes i ...

'' and ''

Bramus ''Bramus'' is a genus of fossorial rodents. It formerly contained only the extinct North African species ''Bramus barbarus''. Both species in ''Bramus'' were moved to this genus from ''Ellobius''. They differ from ''Ellobius'' in being larger, ha ...

''. All

extant taxa Neontology is a part of biology that, in contrast to paleontology, studies and deals with living (or, more generally, '' recent'') organisms. It is the study of extant taxa (singular: extant taxon): taxa (such as species, genera and families) wit ...

in this tribe were formerly included in the genus ''Ellobius''. These species are distinguishable from most other

voles 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 molar (tooth), molars (high-crowned with angular cusps i ...

in that they are highly

fossorial A fossorial animal () is one that is adapted to digging and which lives primarily (but not solely) underground. Examples of fossorial vertebrates are Mole (animal), moles, badgers, naked mole-rats, meerkats, armadillos, wombats, and mole salamand ...

, resembling the

blesmol The blesmols, also known as mole-rats, or African mole-rats, are burrowing rodents of the family Bathyergidae. They represent a distinct evolution of a Subterranean fauna, subterranean life among rodents much like the pocket gophers of North Am ...

s and spalacids more than other voles. The

long-clawed mole vole The long-clawed mole vole (''Prometheomys schaposchnikowi'') is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. It is the monotypic taxon, only species in the genus ''Prometheomys''. It is found in Georgia (country), Georgia, Russia, and Turkey. ...

is unrelated to these species. The nomenclature of this tribe is unresolved but may be changed to Bramina. "Ellobiusini" may be preoccupied by a tribe of snails in the family

Ellobiidae Ellobiidae, common name the hollow-shelled snails, is a family of small air-breathing land, marine, and brackish snails; pulmonate gastropod mollusks in the clade Eupulmonata.Bouchet, P. (2012). Ellobiidae. Accessed through: World Register of M ...

References

Mammal tribes Taxa named by Theodore Gill Voles and lemmings Taxa described in 1872 {{Arvicolinae-stub