Arvicolinae

Arvicolinae
Temporal range: Late Miocene – recent
Meadow vole (Microtus pennsylvanicus)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Cricetidae
Subfamily: Arvicolinae
Gray, 1821
Genera

see text

The Arvicolinae are a subfamily of rodents that includes the voles, lemmings, and muskrats. They are most closely related to the other subfamilies in the Cricetidae (comprising the hamsters and New World rats and mice[1]). Some authorities place the subfamily Arvicolinae in the family Muridae along with all other members of the superfamily Muroidea.[2] Some refer to the subfamily as the Microtinae (yielding the adjective "microtine")[3] or rank the taxon as a full family, the Arvicolidae.[4]

The Arvicolinae are the most populous group of Rodentia in the Northern Hemisphere. They often are found in fossil occlusions of bones cached by past predators such as owls and other birds of prey. Fossils of this group are often used for biostratigraphic dating of paleontological and archeological sites in North America and Europe.[5]

  1. ^ Steppan, S. J.; Adkins, R. A.; Anderson, J. (2004). "Phylogeny and divergence date estimates of rapid radiations in muroid rodents based on multiple nuclear genes". Systematic Biology. 53 (4): 533–553. doi:10.1080/10635150490468701. PMID 15371245.
  2. ^ Musser, G. G. and M. D. Carleton. 2005. Superfamily Muroidea. Pp. 894-1531 in Mammal Species of the World a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. D. E. Wilson and D. M. Reeder eds. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.
  3. ^ Nakao, Minoru; Yanagida, Tetsuya; Okamoto, Munehiro; Knapp, Jenny; Nkouawa, Agathe; Sako, Yasuhito; Ito, Akira (2010). "State-of-the-art Echinococcus and Taenia: Phylogenetic taxonomy of human-pathogenic tapeworms and its application to molecular diagnosis". Infection, Genetics and Evolution. 10 (4). Elsevier: 444–452. Bibcode:2010InfGE..10..444N. doi:10.1016/j.meegid.2010.01.011. ISSN 1567-1348. PMID 20132907.
  4. ^ McKenna, M. C. and S. K. Bell. 1997. Classification of Mammals above the Species Level. Columbia University Press, New York.
  5. ^ Klein, Richard (2009). The Human Career: Human Biological and Cultural Origins. London: The University of Chicago Press. p. 25. ISBN 978-0-226-43965-5.