Arvicolinae – Wikipedia

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Subfamily of rodents

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[edit]

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[edit]

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:

  • Ellobius, Prometheomys, and Lagurus are among the most basal arvicolines.
  • Dicrostonyx, Phenacomys, and Arborimus may form a clade.
  • Core arvicolines include three subclades:
  • Microtus sensu lato contains Alexandromys, ‘Neodon’, Mynomes, Lasiopodomys, Terricola, and Microtus sensu stricto.
  • Ondatra and Dinaromys positions are uncertain, probably compromised by the convergent evolution of morphological characters.

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[edit]

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]

  • Tribe Arvicolini
    • Genus Arvicola – water voles
    • Genus Chionomys – snow voles
    • Genus Lasiopodomys
    • Genus Lemmiscus
    • Genus Microtus – voles
      • 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
      • North American water vole, M. richardsoni
      • Zempoaltépec vole, M. umbrosus
      • Taiga vole, M. xanthognathus
      • Subgenus Microtus
        • Field vole, M. agrestis
        • Anatolian vole, M. anatolicus
        • Common vole, M. arvalis
        • Cabrera’s vole, M. cabrerae
        • Doğramaci’s vole, M. dogramacii
        • Elbeyli vole, M. elbeyli
        • Günther’s vole, M. guentheri
        • Harting’s vole, M. hartingii
        • Tien Shan vole, M. ilaeus
        • Persian vole, M. irani
        • Mediterranean field vole, M. lavernedii
        • Turkish vole, M. lydius
        • Kerman vole, M. kermanensis
        • Southern vole, M. levis
        • Paradox vole, M. paradoxus
        • Qazvin vole, M. qazvinensis
        • Portuguese field vole, M. rosianus
        • Schidlovsky’s vole, M. schidlovskii
        • Social vole, M. socialis
        • European pine vole, M. subterraneus
        • Transcaspian vole, M. transcaspicus
      • Subgenus Blanfordimys
      • 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
        • Sicilian pine vole, M. nebrodensis
        • Savi’s pine vole, M. savii
        • Tatra pine vole, M. tatricus
        • Thomas’s pine vole, M. thomasi
      • Subgenus Mynomes
      • Subgenus 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
        • Middendorf’s vole, M. middendorffi
        • Mongolian vole, M. mongolicus
        • Japanese grass vole, M. montebelli
        • Muisk vole, Microtus mujanensis
        • Tundra vole (root vole), M. oeconomus
        • Sakhalin vole, M. sachalinensis
      • Subgenus Stenocranius
      • Subgenus Pitymys
      • Subgenus Pedomys
      • Subgenus Hyrcanicola
    • Genus Neodon – mountain voles
    • Genus Phaiomys
    • Genus Proedromys
    • Genus Volemys
  • Tribe Dicrostonychini – collared lemmings
  • Tribe Ellobiusini – mole voles
  • Tribe Lagurini
  • Tribe Lemmini
  • Tribe Myodini
    • Genus Alticola – voles from Central Asia
      • Subgenus Alticola
      • Subgenus Aschizomys
      • Subgenus Platycranius
    • Genus Caryomys
    • Genus Eothenomys – voles from East Asia
    • Genus Hyperacrius – voles from Pakistan
    • Genus Myodes – red-backed voles
      • Anderson’s red-backed vole, M. andersoni
      • Western red-backed vole, M. californicus
      • Tien Shan red-backed vole, M. centralis
      • Southern red-backed vole, M. gapperi
      • Bank vole, M. glareolus
      • Imaizumi’s red-backed vole, M. imaizumii
      • Korean red-backed vole, M. regulus
      • Hokkaido red-backed vole, M. rex
      • Grey red-backed vole, M. rufocanus
      • Northern red-backed vole, M. rutilus
      • Shansei vole, M. shanseius
      • Smith’s vole, M. smithii
  • Tribe Ondatrini – muskrats
  • Tribe Phenacomyini
  • Tribe Pliomyini
  • Tribe Prometheomyini

Fossil species[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  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. Elsevier. 10 (4): 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. ^ Database, Mammal Diversity (2021-11-06), Mammal Diversity Database, doi:10.5281/zenodo.5651212, retrieved 2021-12-12

External links[edit]