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. Some authorities place the subfamily Arvicolinae in the family Muridae along with all other members of the superfamily Muroidea. Some refer to the subfamily as the Microtinae or rank the taxon as a full family, the Arvicolidae.
The steppe lemming or steppe vole is a small, plump, light-grey rodent, similar in appearance to the Norway lemming, but not in the same genus. The steppe lemming eats shoots and leaves and is more active at night, though it is not strictly nocturnal. In the wild, it is found in steppes and semiarid environments in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, northwestern China, and western Mongolia. Fossil remains of this species have been found in areas as far west as Great Britain.
Castorimorpha is the suborder of rodents containing the beavers and the kangaroo rats. A 2017 study using retroposon markers indicated that they are most closely related to the Anomaluromorpha and Myomorpha.
Water voles are large voles in the genus Arvicola. They are found in both aquatic and dry habitat through Europe and much of northern Asia. A water vole found in Western North America was historically considered a member of this genus, but has been shown to be more closely related to members of the genus Microtus. Head and body lengths are 12–22 cm, tail lengths are 6.5–12.5 cm, and their weights are 70–250 g. The animals may exhibit indeterminate growth. They are thick-furred and have hairy fringes on their feet that improve their swimming ability.
The genus Lemmus contains several species of lemming sometimes referred to as the true lemmings. They are distributed throughout the Holarctic, particularly in the Palearctic.
Mice in the genus Dendromus are commonly referred to as African climbing mice or tree mice, although these terms are often used to describe all members of the subfamily Dendromurinae. The genus is currently restricted to sub-Saharan Africa, but fossils classified in the genus have been found from Late Miocene deposits in Arabia and Europe.
Anomaluromorpha is a clade that unites the anomalures, springhares, and zenkerella. It has alternately been designated as either a suborder or infraorder. Most recently, Carleton & Musser 2005 recognized it as one of five suborders of rodents.
Meriones is a rodent genus that includes the gerbil most commonly kept as a pet, Meriones unguiculatus. The genus contains most animals referred to as jirds, but members of the genera Sekeetamys, Brachiones, and sometimes Pachyuromys are also known as jirds. The distribution of Meriones ranges from northern Africa to Mongolia. Meriones jirds tend to inhabit arid regions including clay desert, sandy desert, and steppe, but are also in slightly wetter regions, and are an agricultural pest.
Sciurini is a tribe that includes about forty species of squirrels, mostly from the Americas. It includes five living genera—the American dwarf squirrels, Microsciurus; the Bornean Rheithrosciurus; the widespread American and Eurasian tree squirrels of the genus Sciurus, which includes some of the best known squirrel species; the Central American Syntheosciurus; and the American pine squirrels, Tamiasciurus. Like other arboreal squirrels, they are sometimes referred to as tree squirrels.
The Balkan snow vole, also known as Martino's snow vole, is the only member of the genus Dinaromys. Eight subspecies of this vole have been recognized from southern parts of Europe, although in 2022 this number was reduced to two subspecies. The genus name means "Dinaric mouse", referring to the Dinaric Alps. The Balkan snow vole is a living fossil, the only living species in the tribe Pliomyini, and might arguably better be placed in Pliomys, a genus established for its fossil relatives even before the Balkan snow vole was scientifically described. It was described by husband and wife mammalogists Vladimir Emmanuilovich Martino and Evgeniya Veniaminovna Martino.
The lemming vole is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. It is found only in the Russian Federation.
The Mongolian silver vole, also called the Mongolian mountain vole, is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. It is found mostly in Mongolia and small parts of southern Russia and northeastern China. In general, they are not crepuscular.
Przewalski's steppe lemming is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. It is found in China and Mongolia.
Père David's vole is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. It is found in China, Myanmar, Taiwan, India, Vietnam, and Thailand. This species is a member of the melanogaster group, one of the two main groups of Eothenomys voles. Its dorsal pelage is dark brown, often nearly black, and the ventral pelage is gray, sometimes brown. The tail is shorter than the body. This species is found in pine/rhododendron forests.
Maximowicz's vole is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. It is found in northeastern China, Mongolia, and eastern Russia.
The social vole is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. It is found in China, Iran, Kazakhstan, Syria, Turkey, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Ukraine. It may also be found in northern Iraq, where either this species and/or the closely-related Doğramaci's vole is found.
Smith's vole is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. It is also known as Smith's red-backed vole and is found only in Japan.
The Clethrionomyini are a tribe of forest voles in the subfamily Arvicolinae. This tribe was formerly known as Myodini, but when genus Myodes was deemed to be a junior synonym, the tribe was renamed. Species in this tribe are:
The Lake Baikal mountain vole or Olkhon mountain vole is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. It is found principally on the Olkhon and Ogoi islands on Lake Baikal, in southern Siberia. It is also found in a small part of the bordering mainland Russia, on the Baikal coast of the Irkutsk Oblast. It was originally described as a subspecies of the silver mountain vole. Since then, it has been synonymized with A. roylei in 1978, A. tuvinicus, and A. macrotis before reinstating it as a species. It is likely a sister species to A. tuvinicus.
?Oryzomys pliocaenicus is a fossil rodent from the Hemphillian of Kansas, central United States. It is known from a single mandible with the back part missing. All three molars are present, but very worn. Together, the molars are 3.6 mm long. The fossil was discovered in 1935 and described in 1939 as a possible species of Oryzomys. Later authors doubted this allocation and suggested that it may instead belong in Bensonomys or Jacobsomys, but the material may not allow a definite identification.
