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 orders except the bats and the remainder of the rodents.
The term rock rat has been used for several different types of rodents:
Cryptomys is the genus of mole-rats, endemic to Africa. Most of the species formerly placed in this genus were moved to the genus Fukomys in 2006.
The red rock rat, or red veld rat, is a species of rodent in the family Muridae native to southern Africa.
The Tete veld aethomys or Tete veld rat is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found in South Africa and Eswatini. Its natural habitats are temperate forests, shrubland, and grassland. The common name refers to the type locality, Tete, on the Zambesi River.
The Namaqua rock rat is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is sometimes included in the genus Micaelamys. It is found in Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Eswatini, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Its natural habitats are temperate forest, dry savanna, temperate shrubland, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, temperate grassland, rocky areas, hot desert, temperate desert, rocky shores, arable land, rural gardens, and urban areas.
The southern giant pouched rat is a species of rodent in the family Nesomyidae. It is distributed in the savannah of East and Southern Africa.
Arvicanthini is a tribe of muroid rodents in the subfamily Murinae. Almost all recent species in this tribe are or were found in Africa aside from one species, the Indian bush rat, which is found in South Asia and Iran. However, some fossil Golunda species from India and the genus Parapelomys are thought to have also occurred outside Africa, and one species in the fossil genus Saidomys may have also occurred in Afghanistan.
