Rodent Taxonomy

Rodent Taxonomy in Sanskrit

I will name the rodent groups into Sanskrit. Rodentia is the order of mammals that include mice, rats, squirrels, lemmings, and much more.  They are the the most diverse group of mammals, which is why I am drawing special attention to them. 

Below is the phylogenetic tree for the Rodents. This is not how you draw a phylogenetic tree, but I did it this way for convenience.

Let us start with Rodent. Hindi uses the word कृन्तक​, which means "chewer". Rodents are so so called for they gnaw; rodere (whence rodent) means "gnaw" in Latin. The Sanskrit cognate is the verb रदति. Thus if going by cognates, Rodent could be रादक​. Both I shall use. 

Now onto the suborder Hystricomorpha. They include porcupines, guinea pigs, capybaras, etc. The name means "form of porcupines", and we can render this using the "-आकृति" ending. 

Porcupine (old world porcupine) in Sanskrit is शलल or शल्लक​. Thus the family of old world porcupines, Hytricidae, is शल्लकमय​. The suborder Hytricomorpha is शल्लकाकृति. 

For that matter, Caviiade will be named after the guinea pig. I will borrow fom the Quechua word for guinea pig, which is quwi.  That in Sanskrit is कुवि, but I will also render it as कुयि, as that is also how come people hear the word. The former is more correct. If we want to further Sanskritze it, let us call it "quwi rodent" or कुविकृन्तक​. Thus Caviidae is कुविकृन्तकमय​.

Next is Scuiromorpha, which are rodents that resemble squirrels, and inclide squirrels. Following the same pattern as Hystricomorpha, Scuiromorpha is किच्रोडाकृति.

Next is Castorimorpha, which includes the beaver and related rodents. "Castor" is beaver in Latin. Since India doesn;t have beavers, we should make a word for it. The Sanskrit word बभ्रु means "brown" and is cognate with "beaver".  To further reduce amibiguity. we shall call them "wood eating brown". Thus दर्वाद-बभ्रु or काष्ठाद​-बभ्रु. If that is not satisfactory, how about दर्वाद-कृन्तक​ or काष्ठाद​-कृन्तक​? For the sake of the blog, I will choose the latter of the 4 choices. So Castorimorpha is काष्ठादकृन्तकाकृति.

Next is Myomorpha, which is the suborder of rodents resembling mice. They shall be called मूषाकृति. That is further split into 2 groups, the Muroidae and the Dipodoidae. The former is the superfamily that includes mice and all mouse-like rodents, such as lemmings, hamsters, voles, etc.  This is straightforward मूषरूप​. 

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With in that, we have the clade Eumuroidae, which include the typical mouse looking rodents, including house mice. Hence we shall call the clade "typical mouse" or साधारणमूष​. Muridae, which includes the house mice, is सुमूषमय​.

Now onto the superfamily Dipodoiae. These are jumping mice that travel on two feet. Since they are a sister group to muroidae, we can call them उपमूष​. Further, if we want to emphasize their jumping nature, add the word कूर्द​. Thus कूर्दोपमूष​रूप​.

For now, we are doen naming the rodent groups in Sanskrit. Here is the Sanskrit cladogram:

Rodentia: कृन्तक/रादक

        Hystricomorpha: शल्लकाकृति

            Hystricidae: शल्लकमय

            Caviidae: कुविकृन्तकमय

        Scuiromorpha: किच्रोडाकृति

        Castorimorpha: काष्ठादकृन्तकाकृति

        Myomorpha: मूषाकृति

            Muroidae: मूषरूप

                Eumuroidae: साधारणमूष

                        Muridae: सुमूषमय

            

            Dipodoidae:कूर्दोपमूष​रूप​