• Introduction
• Pet rodent taxonomy
• Notes
• Further reading

Many rodent and similar species have been domesticated and are now kept as pets. Some species, like the Norway rat and house mouse, began their association with humans as commensals, living in our houses and farms and cities for centuries before being actively domesticated by humans in recent times. Other species entered domestication millennia or centuries ago: humans first domesticated the guinea pig three thousand years ago, Romans kept rabbits a thousand years ago. Over the nineteenth and twentieth century, many more species were taken directly from the wild and started down the path of domestication, from the Norway rat in the 19th century and the Syrian hamster in the early part of the 20th, to recent arrivals such as the dwarf hamster and prairie dog.

How are all these species related to each other? The table below summarizes the classification of the most common rodent species kept as pets. Two additional species, the domestic rabbit and the sugar glider, are not rodents at all. Domestic rabbits are Lagomorphs, a separate order of placental mammals (Eutheria), and sugar gliders are marsupials in the order Diprotodontia.

Taxonomy is a living branch of science, and new discoveries are made frequently in areas like molecular analysis, fossil finds, comparative anatomical studies, and hybridization studies. These new findings lead taxonomists to modify the classification of various animal groups. Hence, some classifications are under debate as taxonomists weigh the competing and sometimes conflicting evidence for degrees of relatedness between species (and the debates can get quite heated!). I have included some of these debates in the notes section below.

Disclaimer: this classification is for casual interest only. For the most reliable source of nomenclature and classification, consult the relevant scientific literature.

Class

Subclass

Order

Suborder

Infraorder

Superfamily

Family

Subfamily

Genus

Subgenus

Species

Subspecies

Common name

Mammalia

Eutheria

Rodentia

Sciurognathi ( 1 )

Myomorpha

Muroidea ( 2 )

Muridae

Murinae

Rattus

Rattus

norvegicus

-

Norway rat

Mammalia

Eutheria

Rodentia

Sciurognathi

Myomorpha

Muroidea

Muridae

Murinae

Rattus

Rattus

rattus

-

black rat

Mammalia

Eutheria

Rodentia

Sciurognathi

Myomorpha

Muroidea

Muridae

Murinae

Mus

Mus

musculus

-

house mouse

Mammalia

Eutheria

Rodentia

Sciurognathi

Myomorpha

Muroidea

Muridae

Murinae

Acomys ( 3 )

-

cahirinus

cahirinus

Egyptian spiny mouse ( 4 )

Mammalia

Eutheria

Rodentia

Sciurognathi

Myomorpha

Muroidea

Muridae

Murinae

Acomys

-

cahirinus

dimiditus

Arabian/Cairo spiny mouse ( 4 )

Mammalia

Eutheria

Rodentia

Sciurognathi

Myomorpha

Muroidea

Muridae

Murinae

Acomys

-

russatus

-

Golden spiny mouse

Mammalia

Eutheria

Rodentia

Sciurognathi

Myomorpha

Muroidea

Muridae ( 5 )

Cricetinae

Mesocricetus

-

auratus

-

Syrian hamster

Mammalia

Eutheria

Rodentia

Sciurognathi

Myomorpha

Muroidea

Muridae

Cricetinae

Phodopus

-

roborovskii

-

Roborovskii dwarf hamster

Mammalia

Eutheria

Rodentia

Sciurognathi

Myomorpha

Muroidea

Muridae

Cricetinae

Phodopus

-

sungorus

campbelli

Campbell's dwarf hamster ( 6 )

Mammalia

Eutheria

Rodentia

Sciurognathi

Myomorpha

Muroidea

Muridae

Cricetinae

Phodopus

-

sungorus

sungorus

winter white hamster ( 6 )

Mammalia

Eutheria

Rodentia

Sciurognathi

Myomorpha

Muroidea

Muridae

Cricetinae

Cricetulus

-

griseus

-

Chinese hamster ( 7 )

Mammalia

Eutheria

Rodentia

Sciurognathi

Myomorpha

Muroidea

Muridae

Cricetinae

Cricetulus

-

griseus

barabensis

Chinese striped hamster ( 7 )

Mammalia

Eutheria

Rodentia

Sciurognathi

Myomorpha

Muroidea

Muridae

Gerbillinae

Meriones

Pallasiomys

unguiculatus

-

Mongolian gerbil

Mammalia

Eutheria

Rodentia

Sciurognathi

Myomorpha

Muroidea

Muridae

Gerbillinae

Meriones

Pallasiomys

shawi

-

shaw's jird

Mammalia

Eutheria

Rodentia

Sciurognathi

Myomorpha

Muroidea

Muridae

Gerbillinae

Gerbillus

Gerbillus

perpallidus

-

pallid gerbil

Mammalia

Eutheria

Rodentia

Sciurognathi

Myomorpha

Muroidea

Muridae

Gerbillinae

Gerbillus

Gerbillus

cheesmani

-

Cheesman's gerbil

Mammalia

Eutheria

Rodentia

Sciurognathi

Myomorpha

Muroidea

Muridae

Gerbillinae

Pachyuromys

-

duprasis

-

duprasi

Mammalia

Eutheria

Rodentia

Sciurognathi

Myomorpha

Muroidea

Muridae

Cricetomyinae

Cricetomys

-

gambianus

-

Gambian giant pouched rat

Mammalia

Eutheria

Rodentia

Sciurognathi

Sciuromorpha

-

Sciruidae

Sciurinae

Cynomys

Cynomys

ludovicianus

-

black-tailed prairie dog

Mammalia

Eutheria

Rodentia

Sciurognathi

Sciuromorpha

-

Sciuridae

Sciurinae

Cynomys

Leucocrossuromys

leucurus

-

white-tailed prairie dog

Mammalia

Eutheria

Rodentia

Histricognathi

Caviomorpha ( 8 )

-

Caviidae

Caviinae

Cavia

-

porcellus

-

guinea pig

Mammalia

Eutheria

Rodentia

Histricognathi

Caviomorpha

-

Chinchillidae

?

Chinchilla

lanigera

-

chinchilla

Mammalia

Eutheria

Lagomorpha

-

-

-

Leporidae

-

Oryctolagus

-

cunniculus

-

domestic rabbit

Mammalia

Metatheria

Diprotodontia

-

-

-

Petauridae

-

Petaurus

-

breviceps

-

sugar glider

• (1) The old classification within the order Rodentia used to include three suborders: (a) Sciuromorpha (squirrel-like rodents), (b) Myomorpha (rat-like rodents), and (c) Hystricomorpha (porcupine-like rodents). These three terms are still frequently used. However, the new classification recognizes only two suborders: Sciurognathi and Hystricognathi. The old suborders Sciuromorpha and Myomorpha basically combine to become infraorders of Sciurognathi, with two families of Sciuromorpha (Geomyidae and Heteromyidae) switching into Myomorpha. The Hystricomorpha fall entirely under Hystricognathi, with division between New and Old world groups (see Walker's Mammals of the World: Rodentia page)
• (2) The superfamily Muroidea is essentially the same group as suborder Myomorpha except that it excludes Dipodidae family (51 species including birch mice, jumping mice, and jerboas).
• (3) There is some molecular evidence that spiny mice (Acomys spp.) may be more closely related to gerbils (Gerbillinae) than to true mice (Murinae) (Chevet et al. 1993).
• (4) Egyptian spiny mouse and Arabian spiny mouse are sometimes considered the same species (Acomys cahirinus) but different subspecies (Egyptian as A. c. cahirinus and Arabian as A. c. dimiditus), with A. c. cahirinus being the commensal form of A. c. dimiditus. Sometimes different species (Egyptian as A. cahirinus and Arabian as A. dimiditus).
• (5) Sometimes, the family called Cricetidae (includes Cricetinae and Gerbilinae as well as some other groups) is considered a separate family within Muroidea, like Muridae. But more modern classifications lump Cricetidae within Muridae (ref).
• (6) Campbell's dwarf hamster and Winter White hamster sometimes considered same species (Phodopus sungorus) but different subspecies (Campbell's as P. s. campbelli and Winter White as P. s. sungorus), and sometimes considered different species (Campbell's as P. campbelli and Winter White as P. sungorus).
• (7) The Chinese hamster and Chinese striped hamster are sometimes considered the same species (Cricetulus griseus) but different subspecies (Chinese striped hamster as C. g. barabensis), sometimes considered different species (Chinese hamster: Cricetulus griseus and Chinese striped hamster: Cricetulus barabensis) (ref).
• (8) There is some question about whether guinea pigs aren't rodents at all, but a separate group, and their current suborder Caviomorpha should be given order status on par with Rodentia (Li et al. 1992).

• Order: Rodentia (Walker's Mammals of the World, Animal Diversity Web, Pubmed Taxonomy)
  • Muridae (Walker's, ADW, PT)
    • Murinae
      • Rattus (Walker's)
        • Norway rat (Rattus norvegicus)
        • black rat (Rattus rattus)
      • Mus (Walker's)
        • House mouse (Mus musculus)
      • Acomys (Walker's)
        • Egyptian spiny mouse (Acomys cahirinus)
        • Arabian or Cairo spiny mouse (Acomys dimiditus)
        • Golden spiny mouse (Acomys russatus)
    • Cricetinae
      • Mesocricetus (Walker's)
        • Syrian hamster (Mesocricetus auratus)
      • Phodopus (Walker's)
        • Roborovskii dwarf hamster (Phodopus roborovskii)
        • Campbell's dwarf hamster (Phodopus sungorus campbelli)
        • winter white dwarf hamster (Phodopus sungorus sungorus)
      • Cricetulus (Walker's)
        • Chinese hamster (Cricetulus griseus)
        • Chinese striped hamster (Cricetulus griseus barabensis)
    • Gerbillinae
      • Meriones (Walker's)
        • Mongolian gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus)
        • Shaw's jird (Meriones shawi)
      • Pachyuromys (Walker's)
        • duprasi (Pachyuromys duprasi)
      • Gerbillus (Walker's)
        • pallid gerbil (Gerbillus peripallidus)
        • Cheesman's gerbil (Gerbillus cheesmani)
    • Cricetomyinae
      • Cricetomys (Walker's)
        • Gambian giant pouched rat (Cricetomys gambianus)
  • Sciuridae (Walker's, ADW)
    • Sciurinae
      • Cynomus (Walker's)
        • black-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys ludovicianus)
        • white-tailed prairie dog (Cynomys leucurus)
  • Caviidae (Walker's, ADW)

    • Cavia (Walker's)
      • guinea pig (Cavia porcellus)

  • Chinchillidae (Walker's, ADW)

    • Chinchilla (Walker's)
      • chinchilla (Chinchilla lanigera)

• Lagomorpha (Walker's, ADW)
  • Leporidae (Walker's, ADW)

    • Oryctolagus (Walker's)
      • domestic rabbit (Oryctolagus cunniculus)

• Diprotodontia (ADW)
  • Petauridae (Walker's, ADW)

    • Petaurus (Walker's)
      • sugar glider (Petaurus breviceps)

Reference Pages:

• Walker's Mammals of the World Online
• University of Michigan Museum of Zoology: Animal Diversity Web
• Pubmed taxonomy homepage