Family CRICETIDAE (TRUE HAMSTERS, VOLES, LEMMINGS AND NEW WORLD RATS AND MICE)

• Very small to medium-large rodents, rarely large, mostly with generalized cursorial body plans and typically not sexually dimorphic.

• 10-70 cm.

• Holarctic and Neotropical regions, marginally into Indo-Malayan Region.

• Virtually all terrestrial and some aquatic habitats.

• 142 genera, 765 species, at least 1505 extant taxa.

• 20 species Critically Endangered, 32 species Endangered, 40 species Vulnerable; 15 species Extinct since 1600.