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Cricetulus is a genus of rodent in the family Cricetidae (voles and hamsters); it has seven member species that inhabit arid or semi-arid regions in Eurasia.
| Cricetulus Temporal range: Late Miocene to Recent
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| Chinese hamster, white-spotted type | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Cricetidae |
| Subfamily: | Cricetinae |
| Genus: | Cricetulus A. Milne-Edwards, 1867 |
| Type species | |
| Cricetulus griseus[1] | |
| Species | |
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See text. | |
They tend to be more ratlike in appearance than typical hamsters, hence the common name ratlike hamster. Many of the species are considered dwarf hamsters. However, members of the genera Allocricetulus, Tscherskia, and Cansumys are often called ratlike hamsters, and so are considered to be members of the genus Cricetulus by many authorities.
Species
edit- Cricetulus alticola — Tibetan dwarf hamster
- Cricetulus barabensis — Chinese striped hamster
- Cricetulus griseus — Chinese hamster
- Cricetulus kamensis — Kam dwarf hamster
- Cricetulus lama — Lama dwarf hamster
- Cricetulus longicaudatus — long-tailed dwarf hamster
- Cricetulus sokolovi — Sokolov's dwarf hamster
See also
edit- Phodopus, other dwarf hamsters
References
edit- ^ Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M., eds. (2005). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
- Duff, A. and A. Lawson. 2004. Mammals of the World A Checklist. New Haven, Yale University Press.
- Nowak, Ronald M. 1999. Walker's Mammals of the World, 6th edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1936 pp. ISBN 0-8018-5789-9