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Wikipedia / Murinae

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 orderss except the bats and the remainder of the rodents.

Description

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.

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.

Fossils

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. 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.

Taxonomy

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 gerbilss through molecular phylogenetics. They have been assigned a new subfamily status, Deomyinae.

Molecular phylogenetic studies of Murinae include Lecompte, et al. (2008), 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).

The following phylogeny of 139 Murinae genera, is from Steppan and Schenk (2017) and Rowe et al. (2019).

Distribution

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

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. 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. In 2021, a major revision was taken of Praomyini.

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

SUBFAMILY MURINAE - Old World rats and mice

Tribe Apodemini

Tribe Arvicanthini

Aethomys division

Arvicanthis division

Dasymys division

Golunda division

Hybomys division

Oenomys division

Tribe Hapalomyini

Tribe Hydromyini

Chiropodomys division (alternately considered a distinct tribe, Chiropodomyini)

Chrotomys division

Conilurus division

Haeromys division

Hydromys division

Mallomys division

Pogonomys division

Pseudomys division

Uromys division

Unknown division

Tribe Malacomyini

Tribe Millardini

Millardia division

Pithecheir division

Tribe Murini

  • Genus Mus - true mice

Tribe Otomyini

  • Genus Myotomys - African karoo rats (now classified in Otomys)

  • Genus Otomys - groove-toothed or vlei rats

  • Genus Parotomys - whistling rats

Tribe Phloeomyini

Tribe Praomyini

Tribe Rattini

Berylmys division

Bunomys division

Dacnomys division

Echiothrix division

Maxomys division

  • Genus Crunomys - Philippine and Sulawesian shrew rats

  • Genus Maxomys (rajah rats)

Micromys division (alternately considered a distinct tribe, Micromyini)

Rattus division

Srilankamys division

Unknown division

Tribe Vandeleurini

incertae sedis

Notes

References