Rhabdomys

Rhabdomys is a largely Southern African genus of muroid rodents slightly larger than house mice. They are known variously as striped or four-striped mice or rats. Traditionally the genus has been seen as a single species, Rhabdomys pumilio, though modern evidence on the basis of karyotype and mtDNA analysis suggests that it comprises two or more species and subspecies. Dorsally Rhabdomys species display four characteristic black longitudinal stripes on a paler background.

Rhabdomys

Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE · CC BY-SA 2.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
striped mousePBDB
Sits inside
MuridaePBDB
Diet
herbivore, insectivorePBDB, for Muridae
Life habit
ground dwellingPBDB, for Muridae
Motility
actively mobilePBDB, for Osteichthyes
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Eutheria

Time the record covers

At least 2.5 million years on record.

The record covers at least 2.58 Mya to 11.7 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 7.246 Mya to 0 Mya.

Miocene — about 0 of 8 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 4 of 8 occurrencesPliocenePleistocene — about 2 of 8 occurrencesPleistoceneHolocene — about 1 of 8 occurrences7.5–7.2 Mya — about 0.0 occurrences7.2–7.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences7.0–6.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.7–6.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.5–6.2 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences6.2–5.9 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.9–5.7 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.7–5.4 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences5.4–5.2 Mya — about 0.2 occurrences5.2–4.9 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences4.9–4.6 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences4.6–4.4 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences4.4–4.1 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences4.1–3.9 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences3.9–3.6 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences3.6–3.4 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences3.4–3.1 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences3.1–2.8 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences2.8–2.6 Mya — about 0.5 occurrences2.6–2.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.3–2.1 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences2.1–1.8 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.8–1.5 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.5–1.3 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.3–1.0 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences1.0–775 ka Mya — about 0.1 occurrences775 ka–516 ka Mya — about 0.1 occurrences516 ka–258 ka Mya — about 0.1 occurrences258 ka–0 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.58 Mya11.7 ka7.7 Mya0 Mya

8 occurrences of Rhabdomys on record. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

8 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

3 formations

Makapansgat — 24.20°S, 28.95°EKromdraai — 26.00°S, 27.75°EVarswater — 32.96°S, 18.11°E

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The named rock units Rhabdomys has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 2 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Found in the same rock

244 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 8 sites for Rhabdomys, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

7 references

Each of the 8 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Rhabdomys

Credit
Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE
Licence
CC BY-SA 2.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Rhabdomys was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itMuridae through timeThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Thomas 1916