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. 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
Mus musculus, the house mouse
Scientific classification
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
Chiromyscus
Chiropodomys
Chiruromys
Chrotomys
Coccymys
Colomys
Conilurus
†Coryphomys
Crateromys
Crossomys
Cremnomys
Crunomys
Dacnomys
Dasymys
Dephomys
Desmomys
†Dilatomys
Diomys
Diplothrix
Echiothrix
Eropeplus
†Euryotomys
Golunda
Gracilimus
Grammomys
Hadromys
Haeromys
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
Muriculus
Musseromys
Mus
Mylomys
Myomyscus
Myotomys
Nesokia
Nesoromys
Nilopegamys
Niviventer
Notomys
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
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

"Murine" redirects here. It is not to be confused with Murrine the art glass technique.

Description

The Murinae are native to Africa, Europe, Asia, and Australia. They are the only terrestrial placental mammals, other than bats and the dingo native to Australia. 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 human commensals 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 is thought to lead to Rattus and relatives. 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. No tribal level taxonomy has been attempted for the complete subfamily. 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),[2] 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).[3]

Murinae 
 

Phloeomys

 
 
 
 

Micromys

 
 
 

Maxomys

 
 
 

Niviventer

 
 
 

Sundamys

 
 

Rattus

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Rhynchomys

 
 
 

Otomys

 
 
 

Aethomys

 
 
 

Rhabdomys

 
 

Grammomys

 
 
 
 
 
 

Tokudaia

 
 
 

Mus

 
 
 

Mastomys

 
 
 

Praomys

 
 

Hylomyscus

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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
    • Stenocephalomys
  • 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 .[4][5][6][7] 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.[8]

SUBFAMILY MURINAE - Old World rats and mice

Notes
  1. Wilson, Don E.; Reeder, Deeann M. (2005). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference, Volume 12. p. 1191. ISBN 9780801882210.
  2. Emilie Lecompte, Ken Aplin, Christiane Denys, François Catzeflis, Marion Chades and Pascale Chevret. 2008. Phylogeny and biogeography of African Murinae based on mitochondrial and nuclear gene sequences, with a new tribal classification of the subfamily. BMC Evolutionary Biology2008 8:199 DOI: 10.1186/1471-2148-8-199
  3. Jansa, S.A.; Weksler, M. (2004). "Phylogeny of muroid rodents: relationships within and among major lineages as determined by IRBP gene sequences". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 31 (1): 256–276. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2003.07.002. PMID 15019624.
  4. Michaux 2001.
  5. Jansa & Weksler 2004.
  6. Steppan, Adkins & Anderson 2004.
  7. Jansa, Barker & Heaney 2006.
  8. Heaney et al. 2011.

References
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