Cricetomyinae Roberts, 1951

Guy G. Musser & Michael D. Carleton, 1993, Order Rodentia - Family Muridae, Mammal Species of the World (2 nd Edition), Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. 501-755 : 540

Subfamily Cricetomyinae Roberts, 1951 . Mammals S Africa, p. 434.

SYNONYMS: Saccostomurinae.

COMMENTS: Although initially classified within Murinae (e.g., Ellerman, 1941; Simpson, 1945; Thomas, 1897a), systematists acknowledged a closer affinity of African pouched rats to one another than to other murines, a distinction later formalized by Roberts (1951). Subsequent systematic arrangements have followed Petter (1966a) in allying cricetomyines with cricetids (Reig, 1980; Rosevear, 1969). Anatomy of internal cheek pouches supports the monophyly of the subfamily (see Ryan, 1989b); other morphological traits and phylogenetic interpretations summarized by Carleton and Musser (1984). Roberts (1951) segregated Saccostomus , as the lone member of Saccostomurinae, from other African pouched rats ( Cricetomyinae ), a division not recognized by later systematists ( Petter, 1966a; Ryan, 1989b).