The white-tailed rat, Mystromys albicaudatus, also known as the white-tailed mouse, is the only member of the subfamily Mystromyinae in the family Nesomyidae. This species is sometimes placed in the subfamily Cricetinae due to similarities in appearance between the white-tailed rat and hamsters, but molecular phylogenetic studies have confirmed that the two groups are not closely related. The subfamily Mystromyinae is sometimes placed within the family Muridae along with all other subfamilies of muroids.
The white-tailed rat is restricted to savannahs and grasslands of South Africa and Swaziland. They tend to inhabit burrows of meerkats and cracks in the soil during the day and venture out at night. They eat vegetable matter such as seeds and have been known to take insects. Unlike hamsters, white-tailed rats do not have cheek pouches.
References
Kingdon, J. 1997. The Kingdon Field Guide to African Mammals. Academic Press Limited, London.
Nowak, R. M. 1999. Walker's Mammals 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 muroidrodents based on multiple nuclear genes. Systematic Biology, 53:533-553.
This species is sometimes placed in the subfamilyCricetinae due to similarities in appearance between the white-tailed rat and hamsters, but molecular phylogenetic studies have confirmed that the two groups are not closely related.
The term Cricetidae has gone through several permutations, and members of the family as currently defined are often placed in the family Muridae along with all other muroidsubfamilies.
Many other muroids have been called members of the Cricetidae in the past such as mouse-like hamsters (subfamily Calomyscinae, family Calomyscidae), gerbils (subfamily Gerbillinae, family Muridae), the crested rat (subfamily Lophiomyinae, family Muridae), zokors (subfamily Myospalacinae, family Spalacidae), the white-tailed rat (subfamilyMystromyinae, family Nesomyidae), and spiny dormice (subfamily Platacanthomyinae, family Platacanthomyidae).
Genetic studies have shown that the subfamilies listed below are related (form a monophyletic group), and that these other animals should not be included in the Cricetidae.
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