| Tylomyini Temporal range: Pleistocene - Recent | |
|---|---|
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| Tylomys panamensis (lower animal). | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Cricetidae |
| Subfamily: | Tylomyinae |
| Tribe: | Tylomyini McKenna and Bell, 1997 |
| Genera | |
Tylomyini is a tribe of New World rats and mice in the subfamily Tylomyinae. The rats share the characteristics of all being climbing rats.
Tribe Tylomyini
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. 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.
The subfamily Tylomyinae consists of several species of New World rats and mice including the vesper and climbing rats. They are not as well known as their relatives in the subfamilies Sigmodontinae and Neotominae. Many authorities place all three of these subfamilies in a single subfamily, Sigmodontinae.
The big-eared climbing rat is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. It is found in Central America from Mexico to Costa Rica.
Tylomys is a genus of rodent in the family Cricetidae. It contains the following species:
Climbing rat may refer to the following rodents: