Otomyinae Thomas 1897
Creators: name: Musser, Guy G.
name: Carleton, Michael D.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 1993
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Mammalia
Rodentia
Muridae

description: Subfamily Otomyinae Thomas, 1897. Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1896:1017 [1897]. COMMENTS: Morphologically, a strongly circumscribed group of species indigenous to Subsaharan Africa; early on ranked as a subfamily of Muridae <i>sensu stricto</i> (Miller and Gidley, 1918; Simpson, 1945), later as a subfamily of Cricetidae (Misonne, 1974) or Nesomyidae (Chaline et al., 1977; Lavocat, 1978). Paleontological evidence and anatomical considerations have reopened the question of their phyletic origin from African murines, especially arvicanthine forms (Carleton and Musser, 1984; Pocock, 1976), although the phylogenetic significance of the annectant fossil genus <i>(Euryotomys</i> Pocock, 1976), as a murid or cricetid, has been recently disputed (see Denys et al., 1987). Number of genera recognized has varied from five (Roberts, 1951) to three (Thomas, 1918b; Pocock, 1976) to one (Bohmann, 1952), usually just the two listed here (Ellerman, 1941; Ellerman et al., 1953; Misonne, 1974; De Graaff, 1981; Meester et al., 1986; Smithers, 1983). The diverse generic arrangements principally reflect the emphasis on dentition versus bullar development as a diagnostic key. Integration of a more heterogeneous information base, such as the allozymic survey initiated by Taylor et al. (1989), would better illuminate phylogenetic relationships and perhaps stabilize our generic classification. Morphological features described by Bernard et al. (1990), Bohmann (1952), Perrin and Curtis (1980), and Tullberg (1899). Few multispecies surveys of chromosomes and proteins undertaken to date; available information covered by Robinson and Elder (1987) and Taylor et al. (1989).
description: Published as part of <i>Guy G. Musser &amp; Michael D. Carleton, 1993, Order Rodentia - Family Muridae, pp. 501-755 in Mammal Species of the World (2 nd Edition), Washington and London :Smithsonian Institution Press</i> on page 679, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7353098
description: {"references": ["Miller, G. S., Jr., and J. W. Gidley. 1918. Synopsis of the supergeneric groups of rodents. Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences, 8: 431 - 448.", "Simpson, G. G. 1945. The principles of classification and a classification of mammals. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History, 85: 1 - 350.", "Misonne, X. 1974. Order Rodentia. Part 6. Pp. 1 - 39, in The mammals of Africa: An identification manual (J. Meester and H. W. Setzer, eds.). [issued 10 Sep 1974]. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D. C., not continuously paginated.", "Chaline, J., P. Mein, and F. Petter. 1977. Les grandes lignes d'une classification evolutive des Muroidea. Mammalia, 41: 245 - 252.", "Lavocat, R. 1978. Rodentia and Lagomorpha. Pp. 69 - 89, in Evolution of African mammals (V. J. Maglio and H. B. S. Cooke, eds.). Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 641 pp.", "Carleton, M. D., and G. G. Musser. 1984. Muroid rodents. Pp. 289 - 379, in Orders and families of Recent mammals of the world (S. Anderson and J. K. Jones, Jr., eds.). John Wiley and Sons, New York, 686 pp.", "Pocock, T. N. 1976. Pliocene mammalian microfauna from Langebaanweg: A new fossil genus linking the Otomyinae with the Murinae. South African Journal of Science, 72: 58 - 60.", "Denys, C., J. Michaux, and Q. B. Hendey. 1987. Les rongeurs Euryotomys et Otomys: Un exemple d'evolution parallele en Afrique tropicale? Comptes Rendus de l'Academie des Sciences, Paris, ser. 3, 305: 1389 - 1395.", "Roberts, A. 1951. The mammals of South Africa. Trustees of \" The mammals of South Africa \" book fund, Johannesburg, 700 pp.", "Thomas, O. 1918 b. A revised classification of the Otomyinae, with descriptions of new genera and species. Annals and Magazine of Natural History, ser. 9, 2: 203 - 211.", "Bohmann, L., von. 1952. Die afrikanische Nagergattung Otomys F. Cuvier. Zeitschrift fur Saugetierkunde, 18: 1 - 80.", "Ellerman, J. R. 1941. The families and genera of living rodents. Vol. II. Family Muridae. British Museum (Natural History), London, 690 pp.", "de Graaff, G. 1981. The rodents of Southern Africa. Butterworths, Durban, 267 pp.", "Meester, J. A. J., I. L. Rautenbach, N. J. Dippenaar, and C. M. Baker. 1986. Classification of southern African mammals. Transvaal Museum Monograph, 5: 1 - 359.", "Smithers, R. H. N. 1983. The mammals of the Southern African Subregion. University of Pretoria, Republic of South Africa, 736 pp.", "Taylor, P. J., G. K. Campbell, J. Meester, K. Willan, and D. Van Dyk. 1989. Genetic variation in the African rodent subfamily Otomyinae (Muridae). 1. Allozyme divergence among four species. South African Journal of Science, 85: 257 - 262.", "Bernard, R. T. F., A. H. Hodgson, J. Meester, K. Willan, and C. Bojarski. 1990. Sperm structure and taxonomic affinites of five African rodents of the subfamily Otomyinae (Muridae). Electron Microscope Society of Southern Africa, 20: 161 - 162.", "Perrin, M. R., and B. A. Curtis. 1980. Comparative morphology of the digestive system of 19 species of southern African myomorph rodents in relation to diet and evolution. South African Journal of Zoology, 15: 22 - 33.", "Tullberg, T. 1899. Uber das system der Nagetiere. Eine phylogenetische studie. Nova Acta Regiae Societatis Scientiarium Upsaliensis, Ser. 3, 18: 1 - 514.", "Robinson, T. J., and F. F. B. Elder. 1987. Extensive genome reorganization in the African rodent genus Otomys. Journal of Zoology, London, 211: 735 - 745."]}