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Muroidea

File:Mouse_white_background.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons

EntityQ58949· pop 51· linked from 578 articles

Also known as muroid, muroids

The Muroidea are a large superfamily of rodents, including mice, rats, voles, hamsters, lemmings, gerbils, and many other relatives. Although the Muroidea originated in Eurasia, they occupy a vast variety of habitats on every continent except Antarctica. Some authorities have placed all members of this group into a single family, Muridae, due to difficulties in determining how the subfamilies are related to one another. Many of the families within the Muroidea superfamily have more variations between the families than between the different clades. A possible explanation for the variations in r

Wikidata facts

Instance of
taxon
Subclass of
Rodentia
Parent taxon
Myomorpha
Image
Feldmaus Microtus arvalis.jpg
Show 5 more facts
topic's main category
Category:Muroid rodents
taxon rank
superfamily
taxon name
Muroidea
Commons category
Muroidea
described by source
Gujin Tushu Jicheng
Sources (1)

via Wikidata · CC0

~4 min read

Encyclopedic overview

3 sections
Contents
  • Taxonomy
  • Phylogeny
  • References

The Muroidea are a large superfamily of rodents, including mice, rats, voles, hamsters, lemmings, gerbils, and many other relatives. Although the Muroidea originated in Eurasia, they occupy a vast variety of habitats on every continent except Antarctica. Some authorities have placed all members of this group into a single family, Muridae, due to difficulties in determining how the subfamilies are related to one another. Many of the families within the Muroidea superfamily have more variations between the families than between the different clades. A possible explanation for the variations in rodents is because of the location of these rodents; these changes could have been due to radiation or the overall environment they migrated to or originated in. The following taxonomy is based on recent well-supported molecular phylogenies.

The muroids are classified in six families, 19 subfamilies, around 280 genera, and at least 1,750 species.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Muroidea” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.