Nesomyinae
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| iMalagasy rats and mice |
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 The Malagasy giant rat Hypogeomys antimena has a body length of 30-35 cm (12-14 inches).
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Brachytarsomys |
The Malagasy rats and mice are the sole members of the subfamily Nesomyinae. These animals are the only native rodents of Madagascar, come in many shapes and sizes, and occupy a wide variety of ecological niches. There are nesomyines that resemble gerbils, rats, mice, voles, and even rabbits. There are arboreal, terrestrial, and semi-fossorial varieties.
These rodents are clearly most closely related to some muroid rodents found on the African mainland. Some molecular phylogeneticists consider this clade of Malagasy and African rodents to represent a distinct family, the Nesomyidae. Other researchers place the Nesomyinae into a large family, Muridae, along with all members of the superfamily Muroidea.
It has been reported that the Nesomyinae is not monophyletic, but this has not been supported in other analyses. Additionally, there were problems with this particular study, notably the use of Calomyscus as an outgroup while more distantly related muroids (rhyzomyines) were included in the ingroup. It seems likely that all rodents in Madagascar are descendants from a single invasion of the island.
If monophyletic, the nesomyines represent one of only five colonization events of terrestrial mammals from mainland Africa. The other groups are tenrecs, lemurs, Malagasy carnivorans, and bibymalagasians. Molecular clock analyses (Poux et al., 2005) suggest that the ancestor of the nesomyines colonized Madagascar about 20-25 million years ago. This is at approximately the same time as the Malagasy carnivorans, but is considerably more recent than the estimated colonization time of tenrecs and lemurs.
The Nesomyinae contains 10 genera and 14 species.
[edit] Taxonomy
- Subfamily Nesomyinae - Malagasy rats and mice
- Genus Brachytarsomys - Malagasy white-tailed rat
- Brachytarsomys albicauda
- Genus Brachyuromys - Malagasy short-tailed rats
- Brachyuromys betsileoensis
- Brachyuromys ramirohitra
- Genus Eliurus - Tufted-tailed rats
- Eliurus majori
- Eliurus minor
- Eliurus myoxinus
- Eliurus penicillatus
- Eliurus tanala
- Eliurus webbi
- Genus Gymnuromys - Voalavoanala
- Gymnuromys roberti - Voalavoanala
- Genus Hypogeomys - Malagasy giant rat
- Hypogeomys antimena - Malagasy giant rat
- Genus Macrotarsomys - Big-footed mice
- Macrotarsomys bastardi
- Macrotarsomys ingens
- Macrotarsomys petteri
- Genus Monticolomys
- Monticolomys koopmani
- Genus Nesomys - Island Mouse
- Nesomys rufus
- Genus Voalavo
- Voalavo antsahabensis
- Voalavo gymnocauda
- Genus Brachytarsomys - Malagasy white-tailed rat
[edit] References
- Jansa, S. A., S. M. Goodman, and P. K. Tucker. 1999. Molecular phylogeny and biogeography of the native rodents of Madagascar (Muridae, Nesomyinae): a test of the single origin hypothesis. Cladistics, 15:253-270.
- Jansa, S. A. and M. Weksler. Phylogeny of muroid rodents: relationships within and among major lineages as determined by IRBP gene sequences. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 31:256-276.
- Michaux, J., A. Reyes, and F. Catzeflis. 2001. Evolutionary history of the most speciose mammals: molecular phylogeny of muroid rodents. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 17:280-293.
- Nowak, R. M. 1999. Walker's Mammals of the World, Vol. 2. Johns Hopkins University Press, London.
- Poux, C., O. Madsen, E. Marquard, D. R. Vieites, W. W. de Jong, and M. Vences. 2005. Asynchronous colonization of Madagascar by the four endemic clades of primates, tenrecs, carnivores, and rodents as inferred from nuclear genes. Systematic Biology, 54:719-730.
- Steppan, S. J., R. A. Adkins, and J. Anderson. 2004. Phylogeny and divergence date estimates of rapid radiations in muroid rodents based on multiple nuclear genes. Systematic Biology, 53:533-553.
