The Arvicolinae are a
subfamily of
rodents that includes the
voles,
lemmings, and
muskrats. They are most closely related to the other subfamilies in the
Cricetidae (comprising the
hamsters and
New World rats and mice[1]). Some authorities place the subfamily Arvicolinae in the family
Muridae along with all other members of the superfamily
Muroidea.[2] Some refer to the subfamily as the Microtinae (yielding the adjective "microtine")[3] or rank the taxon as a full
family, the Arvicolidae.[4]
The Arvicolinae are the most populous group of
Rodentia in the Northern Hemisphere. They often are found in fossil occlusions of bones cached by past predators such as owls and other birds of prey. Fossils of this group are often used for
biostratigraphic dating of paleontological and archeological sites in North America and Europe.[5]
Description
The most convenient distinguishing feature of the Arvicolinae is the nature of their
molar teeth, which have prismatic
cusps in the shape of alternating triangles. These molars are an adaptation to a
herbivorous diet in which the major food plants include a large proportion of abrasive materials such as
phytoliths; the teeth get worn down by abrasion throughout the adult life of the animal and they grow continuously in compensation.[6]
Arvicolinae are
Holarctic in distribution and represent one of only a few major
muroid radiations to reach the
New World via
Beringia. (The others are the three subfamilies of
New World rats and mice.) Arvicolines do very well in the subnival zone beneath the winter snowpack, and persist throughout winter without needing to
hibernate. They are also characterized by extreme fluctuations in population numbers.
The
phylogeny of the Arvicolinae has been studied using morphological and molecular characters. Markers for the molecular phylogeny of arvicolines included the
mitochondrial DNA cytochrome b (cyb) gene [7]
and the exon 10 of the
growth hormone receptor (ghr) nuclear gene.[8] The comparison of the cyb and ghr phylogenetic results seems to indicate nuclear genes are useful for resolving relationships of recently evolved animals. As compared to mitochondrial genes,
nuclear genes display several informative sites in third
codon positions that evolve rapidly enough to accumulate
synapomorphies, but slow enough to avoid evolutionary noise.
Of note, mitochondrial
pseudogenes translocated within the nuclear genome complicate the assessment of the mitochondrial DNA
orthology, but they can also be used as phylogenetic markers.[9]
Sequencing complete mitochondrial genomes of voles [10] may help to distinguish between authentic genes and pseudogenes.
The complementary phylogenetic analysis of morphological and molecular characters [8][11]
suggests:
Some authorities have placed the
zokors within the Arvicolinae, but they have been shown[by whom?] to be unrelated.
A 2021 study found
Lemmini to be the most basal group of Arvicolinae. The study also found Arvicola to actually fall outside the tribe
Arvicolini, and to be sister to the tribe
Lagurini.[12]
^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.
^Musser, G. G. and M. D. Carleton. 2005. Superfamily Muroidea. Pp. 894-1531 in Mammal Species of the World a Taxonomic and Geographic Reference. D. E. Wilson and D. M. Reeder eds. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.
^McKenna, M. C. and S. K. Bell. 1997.
Classification of
Mammals above the
Species Level. Columbia University Press, New York.
^Klein, Richard (2009). The Human Career: Human Biological and Cultural Origins. London: The University of Chicago Press. p. 25.
ISBN978-0-226-43965-5.
^Myers, P., R. Espinosa, C. S. Parr, T. Jones, G. S. Hammond, and T. A. Dewey. 2006.; "The Diversity of Cheek Teeth"; The Animal Diversity Web (online). Accessed November 26, 2011 at
http://animaldiversity.org.
^Conroy CJ, Cook JA. 1999. MtDNA evidence for repeated pulses of speciation within arvicoline and murid rodents. J. Mammal. Evol. 6:221-245.
^Triant DA, DeWoody JA. 2008. Molecular analyses of mitochondrial pseudogenes within the nuclear genome of arvicoline rodents. Genetica 132:21-33.
^Lin Y-H, Waddell PJ, Penny D. 2002. Pika and vole mitochondrial genomes increase support for both rodent monophyly and glires. Gene 294:119-129.
^Robovsky J, Ricánková V, Zrzavy J. 2008. Phylogeny of Arvicolinae (Mammalia, Cricetidae): utility of morphological and molecular data sets in a recently radiating clade. Zool. Scripta 37:571–590.