| Arvicanthis Temporal range: | |
|---|---|
 | |
| African grass rat (Arvicanthis niloticus) | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Muridae |
| Tribe: | Arvicanthini |
| Genus: | Arvicanthis Lesson, 1842 |
| Type species | |
| Lemmus niloticus | |
| Species | |
Arvicanthis abyssinicus | |
Arvicanthis is a genus of rodent from Africa. They are commonly referred to as unstriped grass mice, unstriped grass rats, and kusu rats.
Genus Arvicanthis - unstriped grass mice
Genetic evidence indicates that the extinct Canariomys is also nested within this genus. [1]
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 Malagasy rodents are the sole members of the subfamily Nesomyinae. These animals are the only native rodents of Madagascar, come in many shapes and sizes, and occupy a wide variety of ecological niches. There are nesomyines that resemble gerbils, rats, mice, voles, and even rabbits. There are arboreal, terrestrial, and semi-fossorial varieties.
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 rodent subfamily Sigmodontinae includes New World rats and mice, with at least 376 species. Many authorities include the Neotominae and Tylomyinae as part of a larger definition of Sigmodontinae. When those genera are included, the species count numbers at least 508. Their distribution includes much of the New World, but the genera are predominantly South American, such as brucies. They invaded South America from Central America as part of the Great American Interchange near the end of the Miocene, about 5 million years ago. Sigmodontines proceeded to diversify explosively in the formerly isolated continent. They inhabit many of the same ecological niches that the Murinae occupy in the Old World.
Canariomys is an extinct genus of rodents that once existed on the islands of Tenerife and Gran Canaria, part of the Canary Islands, Spain. These giant rats could reach a weight of about 1 kg (2.2 lb). They were herbivores; their diet was based on plant materials, probably soft vegetables such as roots, ferns, and berries, but not grass. C. tamarani were considered herbivores, eating everything plant-like except grass with good digging skills. While C. bravoi were considered as a rat character, because of its large size, with an omnivorous diet with good climbing skills. They were one of two groups of rodents native to the archipelago, alongside the lava mouse, which was native to Fuerteventura and Lanzarote.
The tiny fat mouse is a species of rodent in the family Nesomyidae. It is found in Angola, Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry shrubland and subtropical or tropical dry lowland grassland.
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.
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