''Petromyscus'' is a genus of
rodent
Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the order Rodentia (), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They are na ...
in the family
Nesomyidae. It is so distinct from other rodents that it is placed as the only genus in subfamily Petromyscinae. In previous classifications, ''
Delanymys brooksi
Delany's mouse or Delany's swamp mouse (''Delanymys brooksi'') is a species of rodent in the family Nesomyidae. It is the only species in the genus ''Delanymys'' and the only extant member of subfamily Delanymyinae, which also contains the foss ...
'' has also been placed in the subfamily. They are found in southwestern
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
. These animals have a sharp lower point to their V-shaped infraorbital canal. Their molars are intermediate between the ancestral cricetid style tooth and the dendromurine style tooth.
The genus contains the following species:
*
Barbour's rock mouse
Barbour's rock mouse (''Petromyscus barbouri'') is a species of rodent in the family Nesomyidae.
It is found only in South Africa.
Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry shrubland and rocky areas.
It is threatened by habitat loss
...
(''Petromyscus barbouri'')
*
Pygmy rock mouse
The pygmy rock mouse (''Petromyscus collinus'') is a species of rodent in the family Nesomyidae.
It is found in Angola, Namibia, and South Africa.
Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry shrubland.
References
* Coetzee, N. & Schlitter ...
(''Petromyscus collinus'')
*
Brukkaros pygmy rock mouse
The Brukkaros pygmy rock mouse (''Petromyscus monticularis'') is a species of rodent in the family Nesomyidae.
It is found in Namibia and South Africa.
Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry shrubland
Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, ...
(''Petromyscus monticularis'')
*
Shortridge's rock mouse
Shortridge's rock mouse (''Petromyscus shortridgei'') is a species of rodent in the family Nesomyidae.
It is found in Angola and Namibia.
Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry shrubland.
References
*
Petromyscus
Mammals desc ...
(''Petromyscus shortridgei'')
References
*Jansa, S. A., S. M. Goodman, and P. K. Tucker. 1999.
Molecular phylogeny and
biogeography
Biogeography is the study of the distribution of species and ecosystems in geographic space and through geological time. Organisms and biological communities often vary in a regular fashion along geographic gradients of latitude, elevation, ...
of the native
rodent
Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the order Rodentia (), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They are na ...
s of
Madagascar
Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...
(
Muridae
The Muridae, or murids, are the largest family of rodents and of mammals, containing approximately 1,383 species, including many species of mice, rats, and gerbils found naturally throughout Eurasia, Africa, and Australia.
The name Muridae come ...
,
Nesomyinae): a test of the single origin hypothesis. Cladistics, 15:253-270.
*Jansa, S. A. and M. Weksler.
Phylogeny
A phylogenetic tree (also phylogeny or evolutionary tree Felsenstein J. (2004). ''Inferring Phylogenies'' Sinauer Associates: Sunderland, MA.) is a branching diagram or a tree showing the evolutionary relationships among various biological spec ...
of
muroid rodent
Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the order Rodentia (), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They are na ...
s: relationships within and among major lineages as determined by IRBP
gene
In biology, the word gene (from , ; "...Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." meaning ''generation'' or ''birth'' or ''gender'') can have several different meanings. The Mendelian gene is a ba ...
sequences. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, 31:256-276.
*Kingdon, J. 1997. The Kingdon Field Guide to African Mammals. Academic Press Limited, London.
*
*Nowak, R. M. 1999. Walker's
Mammal
Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...
s of the World, Vol. 2. Johns Hopkins University Press, London.
*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.
Rodent genera
Taxa named by Oldfield Thomas
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot
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