''Mesocricetus'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

Old World The "Old World" is a term for Afro-Eurasia that originated in Europe , after Europeans became aware of the existence of the Americas. It is used to contrast the continents of Africa, Europe, and Asia, which were previously thought of by the ...

hamster Hamsters are rodents (order Rodentia) belonging to the subfamily Cricetinae, which contains 19 species classified in seven genera.Fox, Sue. 2006. ''Hamsters''. T.F.H. Publications Inc. They have become established as popular small pets. The b ...

s, including the Syrian or golden hamster, the first hamster to be introduced as a domestic

pet A pet, or companion animal, is an animal kept primarily for a person's company or entertainment rather than as a working animal, livestock, or a laboratory animal. Popular pets are often considered to have attractive appearances, intelligence, ...

, and still the most popular species of hamster for that purpose. Recent research has shown that, unlike almost all other land mammals studied, all species of this genus lack the capacity for

color vision Color vision, a feature of visual perception, is an ability to perceive differences between light composed of different wavelengths (i.e., different spectral power distributions) independently of light intensity. Color perception is a part of ...

Species

*''Mesocricetus auratus'':

Golden hamster The golden hamster or Syrian hamster (''Mesocricetus auratus'') is a rodent belonging to the hamster subfamily, Cricetinae. Their natural geographical range is in an arid region of northern Syria and southern Turkey. Their numbers have been d ...

or Syrian hamster *''Mesocricetus brandti'':

Turkish hamster The Turkish hamster (''Mesocricetus brandti''), also referred to as Brandt's hamster, Azerbaijani hamster, or ''avurtlak'', is a species of hamster native to Turkey, Armenia and other surrounding nations. The Turkish hamster, first catalogued in ...

or Brandt's hamster *''Mesocricetus newtoni'': Romanian hamster or Dobrudja hamster *''Mesocricetus raddei'': Ciscaucasian hamster

Notes

References

*http://www.funet.fi/pub/sci/bio/life/mammalia/rodentia/cricetidae/mesocricetus/ * Rodent genera Taxa named by Alfred Nehring {{Cricetidae-stub da:Guldhamstere