Muroidea

Muroidea is a large superfamily of rodents. It includes hamsters, gerbils, true mice and rats, 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.

The muroids are classified in 6 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)

References

• Jansa, Sharon. A.; Giarla, Thomas C.; Lim, Burton K. (2009), "The Phylogenetic Position of the Rodent Genus Typhlomys and the Geographic Origin of Muroidea", Journal of Mammalogy 90 (5): 1083–1094, doi:10.1644/08-MAMM-A-318.1 .
• Jansa, Sharon. A.; Weksler, Marcelo (2004), "Phylogeny of muroid rodents: relationships within and among major lineages as determined by IRBP gene sequences" (PDF), Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 31 (1): 256–276, doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2003.07.002, PMID 15019624, http://www.faculty.uaf.edu/ffmw1/pdfs/jansa.2004.pdf .
• Michaux, Johan; Reyes, Aurelio; Catzeflis, François (November 1, 2001), "Evolutionary History of the Most Speciose Mammals: Molecular Phylogeny of Muroid Rodents", Molecular Biology and Evolution 18 (11): 2017–2031, ISSN 0737-4038, PMID 11606698, http://mbe.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/18/11/2017 .
• 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.
• Musser, G. G. and M. D. Carleton. 2005. Superfamily Muroidea. pp. 894–1531 in Mammal Species of the World a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. D. E. Wilson and D. M. Reeder eds. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.
• Norris, R. W.; Zhou, K. Y.; Zhou, C. Q.; Yang, G.; Kilpatrick, C. W.; Honeycutt, R. L. (2004), "The phylogenetic position of the zokors (Myospalacinae) and comments on the families of muroids (Rodentia)", Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 31 (3): 972–978, doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2003.10.020, PMID 15120394. 
• Steppan, Scott; Adkins, Ronald; Anderson, Joel (2004), "Phylogeny and Divergence-Date Estimates of Rapid Radiations in Muroid Rodents Based on Multiple Nuclear Genes" (PDF), Systematic Biology 53 (4): 533–553, doi:10.1080/10635150490468701, PMID 15371245, http://bio.fsu.edu/~steppan/Steppan_et_al_Muroidea_2004.pdf .