Arvicolinae

Subfamily of rodents

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]

Description

The most convenient distinguishing feature of the Arvicolinae is the nature of their molar teeth, which have prismatic cusps in the shape of alternating triangles. These molars are an adaptation to a herbivorous diet in which the major food plants include a large proportion of abrasive materials such as phytoliths; the teeth get worn down by abrasion throughout the adult life of the animal and they grow continuously in compensation.[6]

Arvicolinae are Holarctic in distribution and represent one of only a few major muroid radiations to reach the New World via Beringia. (The others are the three subfamilies of New World rats and mice.) Arvicolines do very well in the subnival zone beneath the winter snowpack, and persist throughout winter without needing to hibernate. They are also characterized by extreme fluctuations in population numbers.

Most arvicolines are small, furry, short-tailed voles or lemmings, but some, such as Ellobius and Hyperacrius, are well adapted to a fossorial lifestyle. Others, such as Ondatra, Neofiber, and Arvicola, have evolved larger body sizes and are associated with an aquatic lifestyle.

Phylogeny

The phylogeny of the Arvicolinae has been studied using morphological and molecular characters. Markers for the molecular phylogeny of arvicolines included the mitochondrial DNA cytochrome b (cyb) gene [7] and the exon 10 of the growth hormone receptor (ghr) nuclear gene.[8] The comparison of the cyb and ghr phylogenetic results seems to indicate nuclear genes are useful for resolving relationships of recently evolved animals. As compared to mitochondrial genes, nuclear genes display several informative sites in third codon positions that evolve rapidly enough to accumulate synapomorphies, but slow enough to avoid evolutionary noise. Of note, mitochondrial pseudogenes translocated within the nuclear genome complicate the assessment of the mitochondrial DNA orthology, but they can also be used as phylogenetic markers.[9] Sequencing complete mitochondrial genomes of voles [10] may help to distinguish between authentic genes and pseudogenes.

The complementary phylogenetic analysis of morphological and molecular characters [8][11] suggests:

Some authorities have placed the zokors within the Arvicolinae, but they have been shown [by whom?] to be unrelated.

A 2021 study found Lemmini to be the most basal group of Arvicolinae. The study also found Arvicola to actually fall outside the tribe Arvicolini, and to be sister to the tribe Lagurini.[12]

Classification

Skull of a bank vole: Note the distinctive molar pattern characteristic of arvicolines.

Subfamily Arvicolinae - voles, lemmings, muskrats

The subfamily Arvicolinae contains eleven tribes, eight of which are classified as voles, two as lemmings, and one as muskrats.[13] Recent changes to the subfamily include disbanding genus Myodes in favor of genera Clethrionomys and Craseomys (and disbanding Myodini in favor of Clethrionomyini), moving most of the genera from Arvicolini to Microtini, and renaming Phenacomyini as Pliophenacomyini.[13]

Fossil species

See also

References

  1. ^ Steppan, S. J., R. A. Adkins, and J. Anderson. 2004. Phylogeny and divergence date estimates of rapid radiations in muroid rodents based on multiple nuclear genes. Systematic Biology, 53:533-553.
  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. 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.
  6. ^ Myers, P., R. Espinosa, C. S. Parr, T. Jones, G. S. Hammond, and T. A. Dewey. 2006.; "The Diversity of Cheek Teeth"; The Animal Diversity Web (online). Accessed November 26, 2011 at http://animaldiversity.org.
  7. ^ Conroy CJ, Cook JA. 1999. MtDNA evidence for repeated pulses of speciation within arvicoline and murid rodents. J. Mammal. Evol. 6:221-245.
  8. ^ a b Galewski T, Tilak M, Sanchez S, Chevret P, Paradis E, Douzery EJP. 2006. The evolutionary radiation of Arvicolinae rodents (voles and lemmings): relative contribution of nuclear and mitochondrial DNA phylogenies. BMC Evol. Biol. 6:80.
  9. ^ Triant DA, DeWoody JA. 2008. Molecular analyses of mitochondrial pseudogenes within the nuclear genome of arvicoline rodents. Genetica 132:21-33.
  10. ^ Lin Y-H, Waddell PJ, Penny D. 2002. Pika and vole mitochondrial genomes increase support for both rodent monophyly and glires. Gene 294:119-129.
  11. ^ Robovsky J, Ricánková V, Zrzavy J. 2008. Phylogeny of Arvicolinae (Mammalia, Cricetidae): utility of morphological and molecular data sets in a recently radiating clade. Zool. Scripta 37:571–590.
  12. ^ Abramson, Natalia I.; Bodrov, Semyon Yu; Bondareva, Olga V.; Genelt-Yanovskiy, Evgeny A.; Petrova, Tatyana V. (2021-11-19). "A mitochondrial genome phylogeny of voles and lemmings (Rodentia: Arvicolinae): Evolutionary and taxonomic implications". PLOS ONE. 16 (11): e0248198. Bibcode:2021PLoSO..1648198A. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0248198. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 8604340. PMID 34797834.
  13. ^ a b Mammal Diversity Database (2023). "Mammal Diversity Database (Version 1.11) [Data set]". Zenodo. doi:10.5281/zenodo.7830771.
  14. ^ "Alexandromys alpinus". ASM Mammal Diversity Database. American Society of Mammalogists.
  15. ^ "Alexandromys shantaricus". ASM Mammal Diversity Database. American Society of Mammalogists.
  16. ^ "Chionomys lasistanius". ASM Mammal Diversity Database. American Society of Mammalogists.
  17. ^ "Chionomys stekolnikovi". ASM Mammal Diversity Database. American Society of Mammalogists.
  18. ^ Golenishchev, F. N.; Malikov, V. G.; Bannikova, A. A.; Zykov, A. E.; Yiğit, N.; Çolak, E. (2022). "Diversity of snow voles of the "nivalis" group (Chionomys, Arvicolinae, Rodentia) in the eastern part of the range with a description of a new species". Russian Journal of Theriology. 21 (1): 1–12. doi:10.15298/rusjtheriol.21.1.01. S2CID 250649779.

External links

Wikispecies has information related to Arvicolinae.
  • v
  • t
  • e
Extant subfamilies of family Cricetidae
  • Arvicolinae (voles, lemmings and muskrat)
  • Cricetinae (hamsters)
New World rats and mice
Neotominae (deer mice and relatives)
Sigmodontinae (rice rats, oldfield mice and relatives)
Tylomyinae (vesper mice and climbing mice)
  • v
  • t
  • e
Extant species of subfamily Arvicolinae
Arvicolini
Arvicola
(Water voles)
  • European water vole (A. amphibius)
  • Southwestern water vole (A. sapidus)
  • Montane water vole (A. scherman)
Microtini
Alexandromys
  • Clarke's vole (M. clarkei)
  • Evorsk vole (M. evoronensis)
  • Reed vole (M. fortis)
  • Gerbe's vole (M. gerbei)
  • Taiwan vole (M. kikuchii)
  • Lacustrine vole (M. limnophilus)
  • Maximowicz's vole (M. maximowiczii)
  • Middendorff's vole (M. middendorffi)
  • Mongolian vole (M. mongolicus)
  • Japanese grass vole (M. montebelli)
  • Muisk vole (M. mujanensis)
  • Tundra vole (M. oeconomus)
  • Sakhalin vole (M. sachalinensis)
Chionomys
(Snow voles)
  • Caucasian snow vole (C. gud)
  • European snow vole (C. nivalis)
  • Robert's snow vole (C. roberti)
Hyperacrius
(Voles from Pakistan)
  • True's vole (H. fertilis)
  • Murree vole (H. wynnei)
Lasiopodomys
  • Brandt's vole (L. brandtii)
  • Plateau vole (L. fuscus)
  • Mandarin vole (L. mandarinus)
Lemmiscus
  • Sagebrush vole (L. curtatus)
Microtus
(Voles)
  • Subgenus Microtus: Field vole (M. agrestis)
  • Anatolian vole (M. anatolicus)
  • Common vole (M. arvalis)
  • Cabrera's vole (M. cabrerae)
  • Doğramaci's vole (M. dogramacii)
  • Günther's vole (M. guentheri)
  • Tien Shan vole (M. ilaeus)
  • Persian vole (M. irani)
  • Kerman vole (M. kermanensis)
  • Southern vole (M. levis)
  • Paradox vole (M. paradoxus)
  • Qazvin vole (M. qazvinensis)
  • Schidlovsky's vole (M. schidlovskii)
  • Social vole (M. socialis)
  • European pine vole (M. subterraneus)
  • Transcaspian vole (M. transcaspicus)
  • Subgenus Blanfordimys: Afghan vole (B. afghanus)
  • Bucharian vole (B. bucharicus)
  • Juniper vole (B. juldaschi)
  • Subgenus Terricola: Bavarian pine vole (M. bavaricus)
  • Calabria pine vole (M. brachycercus)
  • Daghestan pine vole (M. daghestanicus)
  • Mediterranean pine vole (M. duodecimcostatus)
  • Felten's vole (M. felteni)
  • Liechtenstein's pine vole (M. liechtensteini)
  • Lusitanian pine vole (M. lusitanicus)
  • Major's pine vole (M. majori)
  • Alpine pine vole (M. multiplex)
  • Savi's pine vole (M. savii)
  • Tatra pine vole (M. tatricus)
  • Thomas's pine vole (M. thomasi)
  • Subgenus Mynomes: Beach Vole (M. breweri)
  • Gray-tailed vole (M. canicaudus)
  • Montane vole (M. montanus)
  • Creeping vole (M. oregoni)
  • Meadow vole (M. pennsylvanicus)
  • Townsend's vole (M. townsendii)
  • Subgenus Pitymys: Guatemalan vole (M. guatemalensis)
  • Tarabundí vole (M. oaxacensis)
  • Woodland Vole (M. pinetorum)
  • Jalapan pine vole (M. quasiater)
  • Subgenus Pedomys: Prairie vole (M. ochrogaster)
  • Subgenus Hyrcanicola: Schelkovnikov's pine vole (M. schelkovnikovi)
  • incertae sedis: Insular vole (M. abbreviatus)
  • California vole (M. californicus)
  • Rock vole (M. chrotorrhinus)
  • Long-tailed vole (M. longicaudus)
  • Mexican vole (M. mexicanus)
  • Singing vole (M. miurus)
  • Water vole (M. richardsoni)
  • Zempoaltépec vole (M. umbrosus)
  • Taiga vole (M. xanthognathus)
Neodon
(Mountain voles)
  • Forrest's mountain vole (N. forresti)
  • Chinese scrub vole (N. irene)
  • Linzhi mountain vole (N. linzhiensis)
  • Sikkim mountain vole (N. sikimensis)
  • Blyth's vole (N. leucurus)
Proedromys
Stenocranius
  • Narrow-headed vole (S. gregalis)
  • Radde's vole (S. raddei)
Volemys
  • Szechuan vole (V. millicens)
  • Marie's vole (V. musseri)
Dicrostonychini
(Collared lemmings)
Dicrostonyx
  • Northern collared lemming (D. groenlandicus)
  • Ungava collared lemming (D. hudsonius)
  • Nelson's collared lemming (D. nelsoni)
  • Ogilvie Mountains collared lemming (D. nunatakensis)
  • Richardson's collared lemming (D. richardsoni)
  • Arctic lemming (D. torquatus)
  • Unalaska collared lemming (D. unalascensis)
Ellobiusini
(mole voles)
Ellobius
(Mole voles)
  • Alai mole vole (E. alaicus)
  • Southern mole vole (E. fuscocapillus)
  • Transcaucasian mole vole (E. lutescens)
  • Northern mole vole (E. talpinus)
  • Zaisan mole vole (E. tancrei)
Lagurini
(Steppe lemmings)
Eolagurus
  • Yellow steppe lemming (E. luteus)
  • Przewalski's steppe lemming (E. przewalskii)
Lagurus
  • Steppe lemming (L. lagurus)
Lemmini
(Lemmings)
Lemmus
(True lemmings)
  • Amur lemming (L. amurensis)
  • Norway lemming (L. lemmus)
  • Beringian lemming (L. nigripes)
  • Wrangel Island lemming (L. paulus)
  • Siberian brown lemming (L. sibiricus)
  • North American brown lemming (L. trimucronatus)
Myopus
  • Wood lemming (M. schisticolor)
Synaptomys
(Bog lemmings)
  • Northern bog lemming (S. borealis)
  • Southern bog lemming (S. cooperi)
Clethrionomyini
Alticola
(Voles from
Central Asia)
  • Subgenus Alticola: White-tailed mountain vole (A. albicauda)
  • Silver mountain vole (A. argentatus)
  • Gobi Altai mountain vole (A. barakshin)
  • Central Kashmir vole (A. montosa)
  • Royle's mountain vole (A. roylei)
  • Mongolian silver vole (A. semicanus)
  • Stolička's mountain vole (A. stoliczkanus)
  • Tuva silver vole (A. tuvinicus)
  • Subgenus Aschizomys: Lemming vole (A. lemminus)
  • Large-eared vole (A. macrotis)
  • Lake Baikal mountain vole (A. olchonensis)
  • Subgenus Platycranius: Flat-headed vole (A. strelzowi)
Caryomys
  • Ganzu vole (C. eva)
  • Kolan vole (C. inez)
Eothenomys
(Voles from
East Asia)
  • Kachin red-backed vole (E. cachinus)
  • Pratt's vole (E. chinensis)
  • Southwest China vole (E. custos)
  • Père David's vole (E. melanogaster)
  • Yunnan red-backed vole (E. miletus)
  • Chaotung vole (E. olitor)
  • Yulungshan vole (E. proditor)
  • Ward's red-backed vole (E. wardi)
Clethrionomys
(some Red-backed
voles)
  • Western red-backed vole (C. californicus)
  • Tien Shan red-backed vole (C. centralis)
  • Southern red-backed Vole (C. gapperi)
  • Bank vole (C. glareolus)
  • Imaizumi's red-backed vole (C. imaizumii)
  • Northern red-backed vole (C. rutilus)
  • Shansei vole (C. shanseius)
Craseomys
(other Red-backed
voles)
  • Japanese red-backed vole (C. andersoni)
  • Royal vole (C. regulus)
  • Hokkaido red-backed vole (C. rex)
  • Grey red-backed vole (C. rufocanus)
  • Smith's vole (C. smithii)
Ondatrini
Neofiber
  • Round-tailed muskrat (N. alleni)
Ondatra
  • Muskrat (O. zibethicus)
Pliomyini
Dinaromys
  • Balkan snow vole (D. bogdanovi)
Pliophenacomyini
Arborimus
(Tree voles)
  • White-footed vole (A. albipes)
  • Red tree vole (A. longicaudus)
  • California red tree mouse (A. pomo)
Phenacomys
(Heather voles)
  • Western heather vole (P. intermedius)
  • Eastern heather vole (P. ungava)
Prometheomyini
Prometheomys
  • Long-clawed mole vole (P. schaposchnikowi)
Taxon identifiers
Arvicolinae
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