Cricetidae

The Cricetidae are a family of rodents in the large and complex superfamily Muroidea. It includes true hamsters, voles, lemmings, muskrats, and New World rats and mice. At over 870 species, it is either the largest or second-largest family of mammals and has members throughout the Americas, Europe, and Asia.

Cricetidae

Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Sits inside
MuroideaPBDB
Diet
herbivorePBDB, for Rodentia
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Rodentia
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 37 million years on record.

The record covers at least 37.71 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 56 Mya to 0 Mya.

Paleocene — about 0 of 7091 occurrencesEocene — about 59 of 7091 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 744 of 7091 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 1539 of 7091 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 910 of 7091 occurrencesPleistocene — about 3620 of 7091 occurrences57–55 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences55–53 Mya — about 1 occurrence53–51 Mya — about 1 occurrence51–50 Mya — about 1 occurrence50–48 Mya — about 2 occurrences48–46 Mya — about 2 occurrences46–44 Mya — about 2 occurrences44–42 Mya — about 2 occurrences42–40 Mya — about 2 occurrences40–38 Mya — about 3 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 15 occurrences36–34 Mya — about 22 occurrences34–32 Mya — about 119 occurrences32–30 Mya — about 133 occurrences30–29 Mya — about 121 occurrences29–27 Mya — about 119 occurrences27–25 Mya — about 133 occurrences25–23 Mya — about 131 occurrences23–21 Mya — about 70 occurrences21–19 Mya — about 92 occurrences19–17 Mya — about 106 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 230 occurrences15–13 Mya — about 301 occurrences13–11 Mya — about 242 occurrences11–9.5 Mya — about 144 occurrences9.5–7.6 Mya — about 162 occurrences7.6–5.7 Mya — about 153 occurrences5.7–3.8 Mya — about 434 occurrences3.8–1.9 Mya — about 981 occurrences1.9–0 Mya — about 3364 occurrences37.71 Mya11.7 ka57 Mya0 Mya

7,091 occurrences of Cricetidae on record, most of them in the Pleistocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

7,091 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

318 formations

Hsanda Gol — 45.27°N, 101.77°EHsanda Gol — 45.41°N, 101.26°EHsanda Gol — 45.26°N, 101.72°EHsanda Gol — 45.29°N, 101.63°EHsanda Gol — 45.45°N, 101.37°EHsanda Gol — 45.30°N, 102.08°EHsanda Gol — 45.39°N, 101.24°EHsanda Gol — 45.46°N, 101.20°E"unnamed sandstone" — 33.90°N, 117.00°WGlenns Ferry — 43.60°N, 116.80°WGlenns Ferry — 42.82°N, 114.94°WGlenns Ferry — 43.00°N, 118.00°WGlenns Ferry — 43.00°N, 115.70°WGlenns Ferry — 42.77°N, 114.96°WPalm Spring — 32.90°N, 117.10°WBarstow — 34.80°N, 117.00°WBarstow — 35.06°N, 117.08°WBrule — 43.90°N, 102.40°WBrule — 40.80°N, 103.10°WBrule — 43.30°N, 102.50°WBrule — 46.90°N, 102.80°WBrule — 42.90°N, 105.20°WBrule — 42.40°N, 103.80°WBrule — 43.20°N, 103.20°WBrule — 42.80°N, 103.10°WBrule — 43.71°N, 102.58°WBrule — 46.40°N, 103.30°WBrule — 43.50°N, 101.90°WBrule — 41.70°N, 103.10°WBrule — 43.76°N, 101.93°WLower Manchar — 26.42°N, 67.83°EKingsdown — 37.05°N, 100.50°WKingsdown — 37.20°N, 100.30°WAlfambra — 40.37°N, 2.59°WAlfambra — 40.50°N, 2.66°WAlfambra — 40.38°N, 2.54°WAlfambra — 40.59°N, 2.69°WAlfambra — 40.35°N, 2.60°WAlfambra — 40.50°N, 1.02°WRexroad — 37.10°N, 100.90°WRexroad — 37.20°N, 100.30°WRexroad — 37.13°N, 100.48°WUlantatal — 39.20°N, 105.57°ESt. David — 32.00°N, 110.20°WSt. David — 31.97°N, 110.30°WSan Timoteo — 33.90°N, 117.00°WChitarwata — 28.85°N, 69.13°EChitarwata — 30.08°N, 70.33°EUpper Freshwater Molasse — 47.67°N, 8.93°EUpper Freshwater Molasse — 48.61°N, 11.78°EUpper Freshwater Molasse — 47.92°N, 10.59°EUpper Freshwater Molasse — 48.44°N, 11.04°EUpper Freshwater Molasse — 48.66°N, 10.23°EUpper Freshwater Molasse — 48.09°N, 10.03°EUpper Freshwater Molasse — 48.16°N, 10.11°EVihowa — 30.08°N, 70.33°ELignite-Sandstone — 41.00°N, 26.82°ELignite-Sandstone — 40.92°N, 26.81°ELignite-Sandstone — 38.15°N, 26.90°EAlamosa — 37.37°N, 105.75°WCrooked Creek — 37.20°N, 100.30°WCrooked Creek — 39.00°N, 98.20°WAlcorisa — 40.83°N, 0.80°WAlcorisa — 40.87°N, 0.93°WVerde — 34.50°N, 112.50°WVerde — 34.77°N, 111.85°WVerde — 34.77°N, 112.05°WDove Spring — 35.30°N, 118.50°WDove Spring — 35.37°N, 117.99°WGila Conglomerate — 32.84°N, 110.00°WGila Conglomerate — 32.58°N, 109.48°WGila Conglomerate — 32.90°N, 109.10°WGila Conglomerate — 32.70°N, 109.10°WGila Conglomerate — 32.69°N, 109.45°WTemecula Arkose — 33.90°N, 117.00°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Cricetidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 294 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 4,730 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Cricetidae and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Cricetidae and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

1,932 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records at least 762 sites for Cricetidae, and this reads 240 of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

1,075 references

Each of the 7,091 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 1,063 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Cricetidae

Credit
Charles J. Sharp
Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Cricetidae was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itMuroidea through timeFormations of the PleistoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. (Fischer von Waldheim 1817)