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
- Order: Rodentia (Walker's Mammals of the World, Animal Diversity Web, Pubmed Taxonomy)
- Muridae (Walker's, ADW, PT)
- Murinae
- 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
- 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)
- Diprotodontia (ADW)
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