Wikipedia:WikiProject Rodents

Welcome to WikiProject Rodents. Several Wikipedians have formed this collaboration resource and group dedicated to improving Wikipedia's coverage of Rodents and the organization of information and articles on this topic. This page and its subpages contain their suggestions and various resources; it is hoped that this project will help to focus the efforts of other Wikipedians interested in the topic.

Articles can be tagged with this project by placing {{WikiProject Rodents}} on the talk page.

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Scope

All living and extinct rodents are within the scope of this WikiProject, from the familiar mice, rats, and squirrels to less familiar groups such as pacaranas, anomalures, and eomyids. The project also covers topics related to rodents, such as parasites infecting rodents, scientists studying them, and cultural depictions of rodents.

Style

Article titles

The vernacular name should only be used as the article title when it is used in a significant proportion of reliable sources and has thus entered common usage; otherwise, the scientific name should be the article title.

Capitalisation of vernacular names

Per WP:Manual of Style#Animals, plants, and other organisms, the vernacular ("common") names of genera, species, subspecies, and other classifications of rodents are not capitalised, except for the first word of a sentence, and any proper names that are part of the vernacular name. An example of the general use is black rat. Such names are given in boldface in the lead section of the article to which they directly pertain, and are linked at first occurrence in other articles. An example of the inclusion of a proper name is California ground squirrel (where "California" is a place name). Standardized breeds of rodent livestock (e.g. of guinea pigs) are conventionally capitalized (aside from any appending of the common name of the species at the end as a natural disambiguation): English Merino. Laboratory strains are usually lower case except where they contain a proper name (including a registered trademark) or an initialism-based designation: Rowett nude rat, BALB/c. When in doubt, open a discussion on the article's talk page.

Sometimes care must be taken to clarify that a specific taxon of rodent is intended, if some readers could misinterpret the passage:

• Helpful: The state health department issued a warning about the black rat.
• Helpful: The state health department issued a warning about black rats (Rattus rattus).
• Confusing: The state health department issued a warning about black rats.

Remember that people may reuse Wikipedia content (including without links to other articles), and read our own articles offline, so we cannot depend on links to work in order for what we write to make sense in the immediate context.

Open tasks

A list of articles needing cleanup associated with this project is available. See also the tool's wiki page and the index of WikiProjects.

Featured content lacking focal images

The following articles have been assessed as Featured Articles, but lack illustrations of the subject (although they may contain maps or images of similar species). If you can find, or create, a suitably licensed illustration or photograph, please upload to Commons and add to the article(s) to make them even better!

• Akodon spegazzinii
• Eremoryzomys
• Euryoryzomys emmonsae
• Macrotarsomys petteri
• Monticolomys
• Noronhomys
• Oryzomys dimidiatus
• Oryzomys gorgasi
• Seorsumuscardinus (fossil)
• Thomasomys ucucha
• Voalavo
• Voalavo gymnocaudus

Article alerts

Articles to be split

• 17 Nov 2023 – Mycoplasma (talk · edit · hist) is proposed for splitting by Artoria2e5 (t · c); see discussion

Participants

Please feel free to add yourself here, and to indicate any areas of particular interest.

1. 6th Happiness (talk · contribs) All rodents, but my background is in the husbandry of rodents, common domestic and exotics. Also rodents in history/culture. I prefer digging up sources, rather than polishing grammar or layout.
2. Aranae (talk · contribs) My interest really spans the whole order.
3. Zappernapper (talk · contribs) very limited involvement, i take lots of wikibreaks. MOS, prose, and random tedium are what i usually do. work with more common species
4. Ucucha (talk · contribs) Interested in all rodents, but primarily in muroids and not in pets.
5. WolfmanSF (talk · contribs) I'm focusing on species of Central and South America.
6. Meow77 (talk · contribs) I love squirrels! (I raised two) I will focus on squirrel-related topics.
7. T.carnifex (talk · contribs) Recently dabbled in Australian native mice, mainly from arid areas.
8. Innotata (talk · contribs) I contribute to vertebrates in general, mostly de-stubbing and the like.
9. Degutopia (talk · contribs) I would be happy to lend a hand with anything relating to caviomorph/hystricomorph rodents, I specialise in Octodon degus.
10. Lukasz Lukomski (talk · contribs) Mostly working on Polish Wiki (all rodents are subjects), but keeping my options open
11. Edude7 (talk · contribs) I love rodents in general, and I like to Cleanup Articles
12. Cwmhiraeth (talk · contribs) Rodents of central Asia, enlarging stubs etc.
13. Ratkinzluver33 (talk · contribs) I've been a huge fan of rodents for a while now. I'd love to clean up some messy pages :).
14. Puffin (talk · contribs) I like rodents, I have already made Djungarian Hamster a GA and I plan to improve more rodent related articles.
15. Lhynard (talk · contribs) I love rodents. I have owned gerbils and hamsters and so will likely make edits on such articles. I am a good copyeditor; I am not that knowledgeable about zoology, though I am a scientist in real life.
16. Altaïr (talk · contribs) I find rodents in general interesting, but I don't own any as pets, since I have a cat. I will probably mainly polish grammar, layout and spelling, and I have a good understanding on Wikicode. I'll do whatever fixing that is needed on those matters. 17:09, 9 November 2012 (UTC)
17. DegupediaDE (talk · contribs) Rodents are my passion and how they live in wild. My main interest is to improve the quality of the used sources. My focus is on insular, Mediterranean and semi-arid species from Africa, Europe, South America (Chile, Argentina) and Australia.
18. Felixthehamster (talk · contribs) I used to have a pet hamster (sadly the hamster has since died). But I am still much fascinated by hamsters, philosophy, and philosophical hamsters.
19. Bluerasberry (talk · contribs)
20. Gaff (talk · contribs) (Mammals of Pacific Northwest of North America. Most are rodents.) 05:12, 12 December 2014 (UTC)
21. Nerwign (talk · contribs) (I am interested in helping expand and improve information on domestic guinea pigs.) 22:52, 27 November 2017 (UTC)
22. RodentGod288 (talk · contribs) I am working on rodents that I have seen near the Grand Canyon, I have added many things to "Cliff Chipmunk" and "Kaibab Squirrel" I hope that I am a help to you.
23. SMcCandlish ☺ ☏ ¢ ≽^ʌⱷ҅_ᴥⱷ^ʌ≼  (landraces & formal breeds/strains; coloration genetics; fancy mouse/fancy rat activities; and system-wide cleanup/consistency.) 21:49, 10 June 2015 (UTC)
24. Mintyfrills (talk · contribs) I'm passionate about rodents, especially spreading awareness about proper care. I have a syrian hamster and mouse currently. Been editing the pages about hamster care. I'm researching rodents kept as pets. 3 July 2020
25. TheLastClassicist1750 (talk · contribs) I am fascinated by all rodents; I hope to help out here mostly with small contributions, such as copy-editing. 22:50, 27 February 2021 (UTC)
26. SpicyMemes123 (talk · contribs) Hamsters are adorable sweethearts who deserve love and affection! As do fancy mice, fancy rats, and all rodents SANS communicable disease.
27. Brianjstarr (talk · contribs) (I am selectively breeding Black Rats (Rattus rattus) for tameness and improved ability to be breed and kept in captivity as pets. I have no commercial interest in this and freely give pet quality rats and breeding pairs to good homes. I would be happy to add information about domesticated Rattus rattus if it would be useful.) 20:27, 11 August 2022 (UTC)
28. Widget-policyq229‬! (talk · contribs) (I am interested in working on mouse, guinea pig, gopher hamster & capybara related articles)
29. Gimly24 (talk · contribs) (Rodents are some of the animals you see on basically any walks)
30. Jericho347 (talk · contribs) (I recently added several new pages covering various types of squirrels that did not have a page. While minimal information was included, it is a start!}
31. MetaAlphaBeta (talk · contribs) (I am interested in rodents...)

Articles

There is currently a proposed guideline on rating importance to this wikiproject over a Wikipedia:WikiProject Rodents/Assessment

Rodent articles by quality and importance
Quality	Importance
	Top	High	Mid	Low	NA	???	Total
FA	2		1	26			29
FL				1			1
FM					13		13
GA	2		5	28			35
B	6	6	28	27			67
C	2	9	46	134			191
Start	1	13	71	672		1	758
Stub		1	27	2,315		5	2,348
List		1	2	6		3	12
Category					560		560
Disambig					30		30
File					5		5
Project					22		22
Redirect			4	40	39		83
Template					975		975
Other					3		3
Assessed	13	30	184	3,249	1,647	9	5,132
Total	13	30	184	3,249	1,647	9	5,132
WikiWork factors (?)		ω = 18,913			Ω = 5.52

Recognized content

Featured articles

1. Rodent
2. Guinea pig
3. Lundomys
4. Mindomys
5. Noronhomys
6. Pseudoryzomys
7. Oryzomys gorgasi
8. Oryzomys dimidiatus
9. Marsh rice rat
10. Eremoryzomys

Good articles

1. Carletonomys
2. Capybara
3. Chuck E. Cheese's
4. Ekbletomys
5. Fancy rat
6. Muskrat
7. Oecomys sydandersoni
8. Oryzomys peninsulae
9. Pikachu
10. The Itchy & Scratchy Show
11. Oryzomys nelsoni
12. Oryzomys albiventer
13. Euryoryzomys emmonsae
14. Tachyoryctes rex
15. Akodon caenosus
16. Oryzomys anoblepas
17. Oryzomys antillarum
18. Holochilus primigenus
19. Megalomys audreyae
20. Eastern chipmunk -delisted
21. Florida mouse
22. Djungarian hamster
23. Campbell's dwarf hamster
24. Camas pocket gopher
25. Gray-tailed vole

DYKs (Did You Know)s

1. Murinae – 23 December 2004
2. Laotian Rock Rat – 25 April 2005
3. Blesmol – 18 September, 2005
4. Meriones – 2 December 2006
5. Desmarest's Hutia – 1 April 2007
6. Shrewlike rat – 12 May 2007
7. Pseudohydromys germani – 2 April 2008
8. Nicaraguan Rice Rat – 8 July 2009
9. Brazilian False Rice Rat – 9 August 2009
10. Large Mindoro Forest Mouse – 21 August 2009
11. Carletonomys – 10 September 2009
12. Oryzomys hypenemus – 28 September 2009
13. Megalomys audreyae – 9 October 2009
14. Lund's Amphibious Rat – 13 October 2009
15. Rodents of the Caribbean – 14 October 2009
16. Holochilus primigenus – 16 October 2009
17. Oryzomys anoblepas – 4 November 2009
18. Nephelomys and 13 others – 8 November 2009
19. Chilean Climbing Mouse – 8 November 2009
20. Noronhomys – 20 November 2009
21. Oryzomyini – 10 December 2009
22. Oecomys sydandersoni – 12 December 2009
23. Thomasomys ucucha & Oxymycterus hucucha – 15 December 2009
24. Oryzomys peninsulae – 24 December 2009
25. Interdigital webbing – 29 December 2009
26. Oryzomys gorgasi – 4 January 2010
27. Posterolateral palatal pits – 23 January 2010
28. Hunter-Schreger band – 24 January 2010
29. Zygomatic plate – 25 January 2010
30. Abrotrichini – 25 January 2010
31. Pebble-mound mouse – 26 January 2010
32. Eastern chipmunk – 2 February 2010
33. Eastern harvest mouse – 9 February 2010
34. Calomys cerqueirai – 9 February 2010
35. Florida mouse – 11 February 2010
36. Oldfield mouse – 22 February 2010
37. Key Largo Woodrat – 22 February 2010
38. Sciurini – 1 March 2010
39. Mindomys – 4 March 2010
40. Oryzomys albiventer – 12 March 2010
41. Marsh rice rat – 15 March 2010
42. Muroid molar – 15 March 2010
43. Oryzomys nelsoni – 22 March 2010
44. Euryoryzomys emmonsae – 23 March 2010
45. Tachyoryctes rex – 1 April 2010
46. Akodon caenosus – 5 April 2010
47. Ungual tufts – 8 April 2010
48. Skrjabinoclava kinsellai – 9 April 2010
49. Oryzomys couesi – 10 April 2010
50. Megapedetes – 12 April 2010
51. Mount Graham Red Squirrel – 12 April 2010
52. Lyperosomum intermedium – 15 April 2010
53. Eremoryzomys – 17 April 2010
54. Isospora hammondi – 19 April 2010
55. Oryzomys antillarum – 21 April 2010
56. Gray-tailed vole - 12 December 2014
57. Long-tailed vole - 21 December 2014
58. Camas pocket gopher - 28 December 2014
59. Creeping vole - 4 January 2015

New articles

Please feel free to list your new Rodents-related articles here (newer articles at the top, please). Any new articles that have an interesting or unusual fact in them, are at least over 1,000 characters, don't have any dispute templates on them, and cite their sources, should be suggested for the Did you know? box on the Wikipedia Main Page.

• Syrian hamster variations
• Infanticide in rodents

Review and assessment

There is currently a proposed guideline on rating importance to this wikiproject over a Wikipedia:WikiProject Rodents/Assessment

Peer review

• Eastern chipmunk (request for PR 15-10-10)

Assessment

Assessment scales

For the importance scale, use the following:

• Top importance: rodent and very well-known species and families, probably no more than House Mouse, Brown Rat and squirrel.
• High importance: families including relatively well-known species and widely known species like Black Rat
• Mid importance: other families and suprageneric taxa and species that are known to non-specialist audiences (like Gambian pouched rat)
• Low importance: all others

For the quality scale, use the standard scale (Wikipedia:Version 1.0 Editorial Team/Assessment#Grades).

Templates

{{WikiProject Rodents}}

{{participant|Rodents|image=Goldmantelziesel.jpg}}

This user is a participant in WikiProject Rodents.

We have a choice of 2 barnstars to award to outstanding users contributing to rodent-related content.

• {{WikiProject Rodents barnstar}}: Use {{subst:WikiProject Rodents barnstar|message ~~~~}} to award this barnstar.

		WikiProject Rodents barnstar
		{{{1}}}

• User:Bri/The Cybersquirrel Barnstar

		The Cybersquirrel Barnstar
		{{{1}}}

Categories

• Category:Rodents
• Category:WikiProject Rodents

Resources

• Rodent references

Related projects

WikiProject parentage

• WikiProject Tree of Life
  • WikiProject Mammals
    • Pocket pets work group – inactive
    • WikiProject Squirrels – absorbed by this project
    • WikiProject Rodents

Tools

Main tool page: toolserver.org

• Reflinks - Edits bare references - adds title/dates etc. to bare references
• Checklinks - Edit and repair external links
• Dab solver - Quickly resolve ambiguous links.
• Peer reviewer - Provides hints and suggestion to improving articles.

External watchlist

• Wikiproject Watchlist - WikiProject Rodents