Muridae

The Muridae, or murids, are either the largest or second-largest family of rodents and of mammals, containing approximately 870 species, including many species of mice, rats, and gerbils found naturally throughout Eurasia, Africa, and Australia.

Muridae

Unknown author Unknown author (original) / Ilmari Karonen (editing) · Public Domain · 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
Also called
mousePBDB
Sits inside
MuroideaPBDB
Diet
herbivore, insectivorePBDB
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 45 million years on record.

The record covers at least 45.9 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 51.1 Mya to 0 Mya.

Eocene — about 6 of 2199 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 49 of 2199 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 531 of 2199 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 474 of 2199 occurrencesPleistocene — about 915 of 2199 occurrences52–50 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences50–49 Mya — about 2 occurrences49–47 Mya — about 2 occurrences47–45 Mya — about 1.0 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences36–35 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences35–33 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences33–31 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences31–30 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences30–28 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences28–26 Mya — about 14 occurrences26–24 Mya — about 19 occurrences24–23 Mya — about 17 occurrences23–21 Mya — about 10 occurrences21–19 Mya — about 14 occurrences19–17 Mya — about 15 occurrences17–16 Mya — about 16 occurrences16–14 Mya — about 8 occurrences14–12 Mya — about 9 occurrences12–10 Mya — about 43 occurrences10–8.7 Mya — about 68 occurrences8.7–7.0 Mya — about 168 occurrences7.0–5.2 Mya — about 194 occurrences5.2–3.5 Mya — about 278 occurrences3.5–1.7 Mya — about 417 occurrences1.7–0 Mya — about 903 occurrences45.9 Mya11.7 ka52 Mya0 Mya

2,199 occurrences of Muridae 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

2,199 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

116 formations

Alfambra — 40.37°N, 2.59°WAlfambra — 40.50°N, 2.66°WAlfambra — 40.59°N, 2.69°WAlfambra — 40.35°N, 2.60°WAlfambra — 40.50°N, 1.02°Wfacies à Congeria — 45.05°N, 7.93°EVogel River Series — 3.23°S, 35.23°EVogel River Series — 3.01°S, 35.20°EVogel River Series — 3.25°S, 35.20°EVogel River Series — 3.13°S, 35.13°EOlduvai — 2.99°S, 35.34°EOlduvai — 2.98°S, 34.32°EShungura — 5.08°N, 36.03°EShungura — 5.05°N, 36.03°EMakapansgat — 24.20°S, 28.95°ELefkon — 41.13°N, 23.48°ELefkon — 41.17°N, 23.50°ELefkon — 41.18°N, 23.42°ELefkon — 40.78°N, 24.03°EKromdraai — 26.00°S, 27.75°ELower Manchar — 26.42°N, 67.83°EHsanda Gol — 45.39°N, 101.24°EHsanda Gol — 45.30°N, 101.63°EHsanda Gol — 45.29°N, 102.09°EHsanda Gol — 45.27°N, 101.77°ELoh — 45.54°N, 101.01°ELoh — 45.49°N, 101.20°ELoh — 45.50°N, 101.97°EKoobi Fora — 3.98°N, 36.32°EKoobi Fora — 3.59°N, 36.24°EKoobi Fora — 4.27°N, 36.29°EKoobi Fora — 4.18°N, 36.42°EProlemais — 40.46°N, 21.78°EProlemais — 40.50°N, 21.74°EKomnina — 40.43°N, 21.80°EKomnina — 40.15°N, 21.94°ESpilia — 41.15°N, 23.48°EAral — 47.37°N, 60.87°EAral — 46.80°N, 60.58°EAral — 50.30°N, 57.18°EAral — 46.78°N, 60.50°EVarswater — 32.98°S, 18.15°ETatrot — 30.73°N, 76.78°ETatrot — 30.51°N, 77.26°EValdeganga — 39.15°N, 1.67°WSwartkrans — 26.02°S, 27.72°EAlcala — 39.20°N, 1.37°WAlcala — 39.22°N, 1.52°WHadar — 11.13°N, 40.57°EHumbu — 2.33°S, 35.97°EBaza — 37.72°N, 2.47°W

Loading coastlines…

The named rock units Muridae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 92 further formations hold fewer occurrences each and are not listed. 1,494 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Muridae and its relatives

Pleistocene

Where Muridae and its relatives were recorded in the Pleistocene.

Found in the same rock

1,899 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records at least 895 sites for Muridae, 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

431 references

Each of the 2,199 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. 419 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 Muridae

Credit
Unknown author Unknown author (original) / Ilmari Karonen (editing)
Licence
Public Domain
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Muridae 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. Illiger 1811