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Muridae

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Muridae
Temporal range:Early Miocene– Recent[1]
House mouse,Mus musculus
Scientific classificationEdit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Superfamily: Muroidea
Family: Muridae
Illiger,1811
Type genus
Mus
Subfamilies

TheMuridae,ormurids,are either the largest or second-largest family ofrodentsand ofmammals,containing approximately 870 species, including many species of mice, rats, and gerbils found naturally throughout Eurasia, Africa, and Australia.[2]

The name Muridae comes from theLatinmus(genitivemuris), meaning "mouse", since alltrue micebelong to the family, with the more typical mice belonging to the genusMus.

Distribution and habitat[edit]

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,andsemiaquaticmurid species occur, though most areterrestrial animals.[3]The extensive list of niches filled by murids helps to explain their relative abundance.

Diet and dentition[edit]

A broad range of feeding habits is found in murids, ranging from herbivorous and omnivorous species to specialists that consume strictly earthworms, certain species of fungi, or aquatic insects.[3]Most genera consume plant matter and small invertebrates, often storing seeds and other plant matter for winter consumption. Murids havesciurognathousjaws (an ancestral character in rodents) and adiastemais present.[4]Murids lack canines and premolars. Generally, three molars (though sometimes only one or two) are found, and the nature of the molars varies by genus and feeding habit.

Reproduction[edit]

Some murids are highly social, while others are solitary. Females commonly produce several litters annually. In warm regions, breeding may occur year-round. Though the lifespans of most genera are generally less than two years, murids have high reproductive potential and their populations tend to increase rapidly and then drastically decline when food resources have been exhausted. This is often seen in a three- to four-year cycle.[5]

Characteristics[edit]

The murids are small mammals, typically around 10 cm (3.9 in) long excluding thetail,but ranging from 4.5 to 8 cm (1.8 to 3.1 in) in theAfrican pygmy mouseto 50 cm (20 in) in thenorthern Luzon giant cloud rat.They typically have slender bodies with scaled tails longer than the body, and pointed snouts with prominentwhiskers,but with wide variation in these broad traits. Some murids have elongated legs and feet to allow them to move with a hopping motion, while others have broad feet andprehensiletails to improve their climbing ability, and yet others have neither adaptation. They are most commonly some shade of brown in color, although many have black, grey, or white markings.[6]

Murids generally have excellent senses ofhearingandsmell.They live in a wide range of habitats fromforesttograssland,andmountainranges. A number of species, especially thegerbils,are adapted todesertconditions and can survive for a long time with minimalwater.They consume a wide range of foods depending on the species, with the aid of powerfuljaw musclesand gnawingincisorsthat grow throughout life. Thedental formulaof murids is1.0.0.1-31.0.0.1-3.

Murids breed frequently, often producing large litters several times per year. They typically give birth between twenty and forty days after mating, although this varies greatly between species. The young are typically born blind, hairless, and helpless, although exceptions occur, such as inspiny mice.[6]

Evolution[edit]

As with many other small mammals, theevolutionof the murids is not well known, as fewfossilssurvive. They probably evolved fromhamster-like animals in tropicalAsiasome time in the earlyMiocene,and have only subsequently produced species capable of surviving in cooler climates. They have become especially common worldwide during thecurrent geological epoch,as a result of hitching a ridecommensallywith human migrations.[7][8][9][10]

Classification[edit]

The murids are classified in fivesubfamilies,around 150genera,and about 834species.[11]

Subfamilies[12][edit]

In literature[edit]

A print showing cats and mice from a 1501 German edition ofAesop's fables

Murids feature in literature, including folk tales and fairy stories. In thePied Piper of Hamelin,retold in many versions since the 14th century, including one by theBrothers Grimm,a rat-catcher lures the town's rats into the river, but the mayor refuses to pay him. In revenge, the rat-catcher lures away all the children of the town, never to return.[13]Mice feature in some ofBeatrix Potter's small books, includingThe Tale of Two Bad Mice(1904),The Tale of Mrs Tittlemouse(1910),The Tale of Johnny Town-Mouse(1918), andThe Tailor of Gloucester(1903), which last was described byJ. R. R. Tolkienas perhaps the nearest to his idea of afairy story,the rest being "beast-fables".[14]AmongAesop's FablesareThe Cat and the MiceandThe Frog and the Mouse.[15]InJames Herbert's first novel,The Rats,(1974), a vagrant is attacked and eaten alive by a pack of giant rats; further attacks follow.[16]

References[edit]

  1. ^Aghova, Tatiana; Kimura, Yuri; Bryja, Josef; Dobigny, Gauthier; Granjon, Laurent; Kergoat, Gael J. (2017)."Fossils know it best: using a new set of fossil calibrations to improve the temporal phylogenetic framework of murid rodents (Rodentia: Myomorpha: Muroidea: Muridae)"(PDF):16.doi:10.1101/180398.S2CID38794026.Retrieved29 August2018.{{cite journal}}:Cite journal requires|journal=(help)
  2. ^Basic Biology (2015)."Rodents".
  3. ^ab"ADW: Subfamilies of Muridae".animaldiversity.org.Retrieved2015-11-08.
  4. ^"Muridae (Old World mice and rats, gerbils, whistling rats, and relatives)".Animal Diversity Web.Retrieved2015-11-08.
  5. ^Nowak, Ronald M. (1999-04-07).Walker's Mammals of the World.JHU Press.ISBN9780801857898.
  6. ^abBerry, R. J.; Årgren, G. (1984), Macdonald, D. (ed.),The Encyclopedia of Mammals,New York: Facts on File, pp.658–663 & 674–677,ISBN0-87196-871-1
  7. ^Savage, R. J. G.; Long, M. R. (1986),Mammal Evolution: an Illustrated Guide,New York: Facts on File, p.124,ISBN0-8160-1194-X
  8. ^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,PMID15019624,archived fromthe original(PDF)on 2008-12-17
  9. ^Michaux, Johan; Reyes, Aurelio; Catzeflis, François (1 November 2001),"Evolutionary history of the most speciose mammals: molecular phylogeny of muroid rodents",Molecular Biology and Evolution,18(11): 2017–2031,doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.molbev.a003743,ISSN0737-4038,PMID11606698,archived fromthe originalon 27 November 2005
  10. ^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,PMID15371245
  11. ^Burgin, C. J., Colella, J. P., Kahn, P. L. & Upham, N. S. How many species of mammals are there? J. Mammal. 99, 1–14 (2018)
  12. ^Steppan, S. J. & Schenk, J. J. Muroid rodent phylogenetics: 900-Species tree reveals increasing diversification rates. PLoS One 12, e0183070 (2017)
  13. ^Mieder, Wolfgang (2007).The Pied Piper: A Handbook.Greenwood. pp. 71 and passim.ISBN978-0-313-33464-1.[permanent dead link]
  14. ^Tolkien, J. R. R. (2001).On Fairy-Stories.HarperCollins. p. 16.ISBN0-007-10504-5.{{cite book}}:|work=ignored (help)
  15. ^Gibbs, Laura (2002–2008)."Aesopica".MythFolklore.net.Retrieved21 June2014.
  16. ^Holland, Steve (21 March 2013)."James Herbert obituary".The Guardian.Retrieved21 June2014.

External links[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Muridae&oldid=1207879292"