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.[1]

Old World rats and mice
Temporal range: Middle Miocene – recent, 14–0 Ma
Mus musculus, the house mouse
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Muridae
Subfamily: Murinae
Illiger, 1811
Genera

Abditomys
Abeomelomys
Aethomys
Anisomys
Anonymomys
Antemus
Anthracomys
Apodemus
Apomys
Archboldomys
Arvicanthis
Baiyankamys
Bandicota
Batomys
Beremendimys
Berylmys
Bullimus
Bunomys
Canariomys
Carpomys
Castillomys
Castromys
Chardinomys
Chingawaemys
Chiromyscus
Chiropodomys
Chiruromys
Chrotomys
Coccymys
Colomys
Congomys
Conilurus
Coryphomys
Crateromys
Crossomys
Cremnomys
Crunomys
Dacnomys
Dasymys
Dephomys
Desmomys
Dilatomys
Diomys
Diplothrix
Echiothrix
Eropeplus
Euryotomys
Golunda
Gracilimus
Grammomys
Hadromys
Haeromys
Halmaheramys
Hapalomys
Heimyscus
Hooijeromys
Huaxiamys
Huerzelerimys
Hybomys
Hydromys
Hylomyscus
Hyomys
Hyorhinomys
Kadarsanomys
Karnimata
Komodomys
Kritimys
Lamottemys
Leggadina
Lemniscomys
Lenomys
Lenothrix
Leopoldamys
Leporillus
Leptomys
Limnomys
Lorentzimys
Macruromys
Madromys
Malacomys
Mallomys
Malpaisomys
Mammelomys
Margaretamys
Mastacomys
Mastomys
Maxomys
Melasmothrix
Melomys
Mesembriomys
Microhydromys
Micromys
Mikrotia
Millardia
Mirzamys
Montemys
Muriculus
Musseromys
Mus
Mylomys
Myomyscus
Myotomys
Nesokia
Nesoromys
Nilopegamys
Niviventer
Notomys
Ochromyscus
Oenomys
Orientalomys
Otomys
Palawanomys
Paraethomys
Parapodemus
Papagomys
Parahydromys
Paraleptomys
Paramelomys
Parotomys
Parapelomys
Paucidentomys
Paruromys
Paulamys
Pelomys
Phloeomys
Pithecheir
Pithecheirops
Pogonomelomys
Pogonomys
Praomys
Progonomys
Protochromys
Qianomys
Pseudohydromys
Pseudomys
Ratchaburimys
Rattus
Rhabdomys
Rhagamys
Rhagapodemus
Rhynchomys
Saidomys
Saxatilomys
Serengetimys
Solomys
Sommeromys
Soricomys
Spelaeomys
Srilankamys
Stenocephalemys
Stephanomys
Stochomys
Sundamys
Taeromys
Tarsomys
Tateomys
Thallomys
Thamnomys
Tokudaia
Tonkinomys
Tryphomys
Uromys
Vandeleuria
Vernaya
Waiomys
Wushanomys
Xenuromys
Xeromys
Yunomys
Zelotomys
Zyzomys

Description

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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.[2][3]

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 in muroid rodents.[4]

Fossils

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The first known appearance of the Murinae in the fossil record is about 14 million years ago with the fossil genus Antemus. Antemus is thought to derive directly from Potwarmus, which has a more primitive tooth pattern. Likewise, two genera, Progonomys and Karnimata, are thought to derive directly from Antemus. Progonomys is thought to be the ancestor of Mus and relatives, while Karnimata was previously thought to lead to Rattus and relatives, although it is now thought to be a member of the extant tribe Praomyini.[4][5] All of these fossils are found in the well-preserved and easily dated Siwalik fossil beds of Pakistan. The transition from Potwarmus to Antemus to Progonomys and Karnimata is considered an excellent example of anagenic evolution.[4]

Taxonomy

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Most of the Murinae have been poorly studied. Some genera have been grouped, such as the hydromyine water rats, conilurine or pseudomyine Australian mice, or the phloeomyine Southeast Asian forms. It appears as if genera from Southeast Asian islands and Australia may be early offshoots compared to mainland forms. The vlei rats in the genera Otomys and Parotomys are often placed in a separate subfamily, Otomyinae, but have been shown to be closely related to African murines in spite of their uniqueness.

Three genera, Uranomys, Lophuromys, and Acomys, were once considered to be murines, but were found to be more closely related to gerbils through molecular phylogenetics. They have been assigned a new subfamily status, Deomyinae.

Molecular phylogenetic studies of Murinae include Lecompte, et al. (2008),[6] which analyzes African murine species based on the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene and two nuclear gene fragments. Lecompte, et al. (2008) estimates that African murines colonized Africa from Asia approximately 11 million years ago during the Miocene.

The following phylogeny of 16 Murinae genera, based on molecular phylogenetic analysis of the Interphotoreceptor Retinoid Binding Protein (IRBP) gene, is from Jansa & Weksler (2004: 264).[7]

Murinae 

Distribution

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The following is a list of Murinae genus divisions ordered by the continents that they are endemic to. Most of the diversity is located in Southeast Asia and Australasia.

  • Africa
    • Aethomys division – 1 genus
    • Arvicanthis division – 6 genera
    • Colomys division – 3 genera
    • Dasymys division – 8 genera
    • Hybomys division – 3 genera
    • Malacomys division – 1 genus
    • Oenomys division – 5 genea
    • Otomyini division/tribe – 3 genera
  • Eurasia
    • Apodemus division – 2 genera
    • Micromys division – 6 genera
    • Genus Mus
  • South Asia
    • Golunda division – 1 genus
    • Millardia division – 4 genera
  • Southeast Asia
    • Dacnomys division – 8 genera
    • Hadromys division – 1 genus
    • Maxomys division – 1 genus
    • Pithecheir division – 6 genera
    • Rattus division – 21 genera
  • Philippines
    • Chrotomys division – 5 genera
    • Crunomys division – 2 genera
    • Phloeomys division – 4 genera
    • Genus Musseromys
  • Sulawesi
    • Crunomys division – 2 genera
    • Echiothrix division – 1 genus
    • Melasmothrix division – 2 genera
  • Moluccas
    • Halmaheramys division – 1 genus
  • New Guinea
    • Hydromys division – 6 genera
    • Lorentzimys division – 1 genus
    • Pogonomys division – 11 genera
    • Uromys division – 5 genera
    • Xeromys division – 3 genera
    • Genus Mirzamys
  • Australia
    • Pseudomys division – 8 genera

List of species

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As of 2005, the Murinae contained 129 genera in 584 species. Musser and Carleton (2005) divided the Murinae into 29 genus divisions. They treated the Otomyinae as a separate subfamily, but all molecular analyses conducted to date have supported their inclusion in the Murinae as relatives of African genera.[7][8][9][10] In a recent expedition in the Philippines, seven more Apomys mice were added and the genus was proposed to split into two subgenera - Apomys and Megapomys, based on morphological and cytochrome b DNA sequences.[11] In 2021, a major revision was taken of Praomyini.[12]

The tribes are based on the classification by the American Society of Mammalogists.[13] Some of the division placement is based on Pages et al., 2015 and Rowe et al., 2019.[2][14]

SUBFAMILY MURINAE - Old World rats and mice

Notes

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  1. ^ Wilson & Reeder 2005, p. 1191.
  2. ^ a b Pagès, Marie; Fabre, Pierre-Henri; Chaval, Yannick; Mortelliti, Alessio; Nicolas, Violaine; Wells, Konstans; Michaux, Johan R.; Lazzari, Vincent (2016). "Molecular phylogeny of South-East Asian arboreal murine rodents". Zoologica Scripta. 45 (4): 349–364. doi:10.1111/zsc.12161. hdl:10072/101842. ISSN 1463-6409. S2CID 86285898.
  3. ^ Harper, Grant A.; Bunbury, Nancy (2015-01-01). "Invasive rats on tropical islands: Their population biology and impacts on native species". Global Ecology and Conservation. 3: 607–627. Bibcode:2015GEcoC...3..607H. doi:10.1016/j.gecco.2015.02.010. ISSN 2351-9894.
  4. ^ a b c Kimura, Yuri; Jacobs, Louis L.; Flynn, Lawrence J. (2013-10-14). "Lineage-Specific Responses of Tooth Shape in Murine Rodents (Murinae, Rodentia) to Late Miocene Dietary Change in the Siwaliks of Pakistan". PLOS ONE. 8 (10): e76070. Bibcode:2013PLoSO...876070K. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0076070. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 3796524. PMID 24155885.
  5. ^ Denys, Christiane; Lecompte, Emilie; Taylor, P. J. (21 July 2017). "Diagnoses and contents of new African and Eurasian Murinae (Rodentia, Muridae) tribes" (PDF).
  6. ^ Lecompte et al. 2008.
  7. ^ a b Jansa & Weksler 2004.
  8. ^ Michaux, Reyes & Catzeflis 2001.
  9. ^ Steppan, Adkins & Anderson 2004.
  10. ^ Jansa, Barker & Heaney 2006.
  11. ^ Heaney et al. 2011.
  12. ^ Nicolas, Violaine; Mikula, Ondřej; Lavrenchenko, Leonid A.; Šumbera, Radim; Bartáková, Veronika; Bryjová, Anna; Meheretu, Yonas; Verheyen, Erik; Missoup, Alain Didier; Lemmon, Alan R.; Moriarty Lemmon, Emily (2021-10-01). "Phylogenomics of African radiation of Praomyini (Muridae: Murinae) rodents: First fully resolved phylogeny, evolutionary history and delimitation of extant genera". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 163: 107263. Bibcode:2021MolPE.16307263N. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2021.107263. hdl:10067/1795280151162165141. ISSN 1055-7903. PMID 34273505.
  13. ^ Database, Mammal Diversity (2021-11-06), Mammal Diversity Database, doi:10.5281/zenodo.5651212, retrieved 2021-12-01
  14. ^ Rowe, Kevin C.; Achmadi, Anang S.; Fabre, Pierre-Henri; Schenk, John J.; Steppan, Scott J.; Esselstyn, Jacob A. (2019). "Oceanic islands of Wallacea as a source for dispersal and diversification of murine rodents". Journal of Biogeography. 46 (12): 2752–2768. Bibcode:2019JBiog..46.2752R. doi:10.1111/jbi.13720. ISSN 1365-2699. S2CID 208583483.

References

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