Cricetidae

Southern grasshopper mouse Onychomys torridus, from the National Park Service.

Belongs within: Myomorpha.
Contains: Democricetodon, Neotoma, Reithrodontomys, Peromyscus, Cricetini, Arvicolinae, Tylomyinae, Sigmodontinae.

The Cricetidae include the hamsters (Cricetini) of the Old World, together with the New World rats and mice and the voles of the Arvicolinae. The family is poorly defined morphologically, but members have a biserial arrangement of the molar cusps, with a longitudinal connection among them and a discrete anterocone on the first molars (Wilson 2005). The diverse New World rats and mice are divided between the subfamilies Neotominae, Tylomyinae and Sigmodontinae. The Neotominae are a primarily North American group of mice, supported as a clade by molecular data (Reeder et al. 2006). Phylogenetic analysis has supported the division of the neotomines between four tribes, with the woodrats of the Neotomini possibly the most divergent from other neotomines. Members of the Neotomini include the diminutive woodrats Nelsonia, two species of medium-sized rodents found in pine and oak forests in Mexico. The golden mouse Ochrotomys nuttalli is a golden-brown to orange-coloured, semi-arboreal mouse found in the southeastern United States. The Baiomyini, found in southern North and Central America, include the pygmy mice Baiomys and the singing mice Scotinomys. Both genera produce audible staccato 'songs', of longer duration in Scotinomys than Baiomys. Ther Peromyscini include the deer mice of the genus Peromyscus, the harvest mice of the genus Reithrodontomys and related taxa. The grasshopper mice of the genus Onychomys are carnivorous, feeding primarily on insects, and are noted for their speed which allows them to successfully attack venomous prey such as centipedes or scorpions.

Of more uncertain relationships are the Afrocricetodontinae of the Miocene of Africa, generally treated as an extinct group though Lavocat (1978) regarded the recent Madagascan genus Macrotarsomys as a direct derivative of the afrocricetodontine genus Paratarsomys.

<==Cricetidae [Cricetinae, Hesperomyini]
    |--Neotominae RC06
    |    |--Neotomini RC06
    |    |    |--+--Neotoma FS15
    |    |    |  `--+--Xenomys nelsoni FS15
    |    |    |     `--Hodomys alleni FS15 [=Neotoma (Hodomys) alleni G69]
    |    |    |          |--H. a. alleni G69
    |    |    |          `--H. a. vetula [=Neotoma (Hodomys) alleni vetula] G69
    |    |    `--Nelsonia FS15
    |    |         |--N. goldmani IT07
    |    |         `--N. neotomodon Merriam 1897 MB86
    |    `--+--Ochrotomys [Ochrotomyini] FS15
    |       |    `--O. nuttalli RC06
    |       `--+--Baiomyini RC06
    |          |    |--Scotinomys RC06
    |          |    |    |--S. teguina RC06
    |          |    |    |    |--S. t. teguina G69
    |          |    |    |    `--S. t. subnubilus G69
    |          |    |    `--S. xerampelinus IT07
    |          |    `--Baiomys FS15
    |          |         |--B. musculus G69
    |          |         |    |--B. m. musculus G69
    |          |         |    |--B. m. brunneus G69
    |          |         |    |--B. m. infernatis G69
    |          |         |    `--B. m. pallidus G69
    |          |         `--B. taylori RC06
    |          |              |--B. t. taylori MB86
    |          |              `--B. t. paulus (Allen 1903) MB86
    |          `--Peromyscini [Reithrodontomyini] RC06
    |               |--+--Reithrodontomys FS15
    |               |  `--Isthmomys FS15
    |               |       |--I. flavidus IT07
    |               |       `--I. pirrensis IT07
    |               `--+--+--Peromyscus RC06
    |                  |  `--Megadontomys FS15
    |                  |       |--M. cryophilus (Musser 1964) FS15, G69 [=Peromyscus thomasi cryophilus G69]
    |                  |       `--+--M. nelsoni FS15 [=Peromyscus nelsoni HA61]
    |                  |          `--M. thomasi FS15 [=Peromyscus (Megadontomys) thomasi G69]
    |                  `--Onychomys RC06
    |                       |--O. arenicola FS15
    |                       `--+--O. leucogaster (Wied-Neuwied 1841) FS15, MH03 [=Hypudaeus leucogaster B75]
    |                          |    |--O. l. leucogaster MH03
    |                          |    `--O. l. pedroensis MH03
    |                          `--+--O. hollisteri MH03
    |                             `--O. torridus FS15
    |                                  |--O. t. torridus MB86
    |                                  |--O. t. canus Merriam 1904 MB86
    |                                  |--O. t. longicaudus CM07
    |                                  `--O. t. surrufus MB86
    `--+--+--Cricetini B74
       |  `--+--Prometheomys schaposchnikovi Satunin 1901 FS15, P04
       |     `--Arvicolinae FS15
       `--+--Tylomyinae FS15
          `--Sigmodontinae RC06

Cricetidae incertae sedis:
  Microtodon TH03
  Kanisamys L78
  Ruscinomys Depéret 1890 L78, P04
  Leakeymys ternani L78
  Palaeotomys gracilis L78
  Prototomys cambelli L78
  Eumyarion leemani M-SK04
  Democricetodon M-SK04
  Allocricetus Schaub 1930 P04
    |--A. bursae Schaub 1930 P04
    `--A. ehiki Schaub 1930 P04
  Cricetinus Zdansky 1928 P04
    |--C. beremendensis Hir 1994 P04
    |--C. europaeus Kretzoi 1959 P04
    `--C. varians P04
  Afrocricetodontinae J88
    |--Paratarsomys macinnesi L78
    |--Notocricetodon petteri L78
    `--Afrocricetodon songhori L78
         |--A. s. songhori L78
         `--A. s. korui L78
  Asiocricetus Kishida 1929 TYM08
    |--A. bampensis Kishida 1929 TYM08
    `--A. yamashinai Kishida 1929 TYM08

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[B74] Bugge, J. 1974. The cephalic arterial system in insectivores, primates, rodents and lagomorphs, with special reference to the systematic classification. Acta Anatomica 87 (Suppl 62): 1–160.

[CM07] Cokendolpher, J. C., & P. G. Mitov. 2007. Natural enemies. In: Pinto-da-Rocha, R., G. Machado & G. Giribet (eds) Harvestmen: The Biology of Opiliones pp. 339–373. Harvard University Press: Cambridge (Massachusetts).

[FS15] Faurby, S., & J.-C. Svenning. 2015. A species-level phylogeny of all extant and late Quaternary extinct mammals using a novel heuristic-hierarchical Bayesian approach. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 84: 14–26.

[G69] Goodwin, G. G. 1969. Mammals from the State of Oaxaca, Mexico, in the American Museum of Natural History. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 141 (1): 1–269, 40 pls.

[IT07] Isaac, N. J. B., S. T. Turvey, B. Collen, C. Waterman & J. E. M. Baillie. 2007. Mammals on the EDGE: conservation priorities based on threat and phylogeny. PloS One 2 (3): e296.

[J88] Jaeger, J.-J. 1988. Rodent phylogeny: new data and old problems. In: Benton, M. J. (ed.) The Phylogeny and Classification of the Tetrapods vol. 2. Mammals pp. 177–199. Clarendon Press: Oxford.

[L78] Lavocat, L. 1978. Rodentia and Lagomorpha. In: Maglio, V. J., & H. B. S. Cooke (eds) Evolution of African Mammals pp. 69–89. Harvard University Press: Cambridge (Massachusetts).

[MH03] Martin, R. A., R. T. Hurt, J. G. Honey & P. Peláez-Campomanes. 2003. Late Pliocene and Early Pleistocene rodents fom the northern Borchers Badlands (Meade County, Kansas), with comments on the Blancan-Irvingtonian boundary in the Meade Basin. Journal of Paleontology 77 (5): 985–1001.

[MB86] Matson, J. O. & R. H. Baker. 1986. Mammals of Zacatecas. Special Publications, Museum of Texas Tech University 24: 1–88.

[M-SK04] Moyà-Solà, S., M. Köhler, D. M. Alba, I. Casanovas-Vilar & J. Galindo. 2004. Pierolapithecus catalaunicus, a new Middle Miocene great ape from Spain. Science 306: 1339–1344.

[P04] Popov, V. V. 2004. Pliocene small mammals (Mammalia, Lipotyphla, Chiroptera, Lagomorpha, Rodentia) from Muselievo (north Bulgaria). Geodiversitas 26 (3): 403–491.

[RC06] Reeder, S. A., D. S. Carroll, C. W. Edwards, C. W. Kilpatrick & R. D. Bradley. 2006. Neotomine-peromyscine rodent systematics based on combined analyses of nuclear and mitochondrial DNA sequences. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 40 (1): 251–258.

[TH03] Tedford, R. H., & C. R. Harington. 2003. An Arctic mammal fauna from the Early Pliocene of North America. Nature 425: 388–390.

[TYM08] Tennent, W. J., M. Yasuda & K. Morimoto. 2008. Lansania Journal of arachnology and zoology—a rare and obscure Japanese natural history journal. Archives of Natural History 35 (2): 252–280.

Wilson, D. E. 2005. Mammal Species of the World: a taxonomic and geographic reference, vol. 1. JHU Press.

Last updated: 22 January 2019.