In Arel, virtually all very small herbivore niches (except those in Australia) and then some are occupied by a single giant group of animals, the glires.  Rodents, rabbits, and elephant shrews are ubiquitous across home-Earth's plains, forests, jungles, mountains, deserts, and tundras and take up over a fourth of mammalian diversity between them.  In Spec, the glires do indeed, exist, but their evolutionary history is somewhat different.

    Xenotheridians (little strange beasts) probably evolved in Asia during the early Tertiary.  They did not diversify into hopping lagomorphs or arboreal scurians, but instead stayed small ground-dwelling generalists.  Xenotheridians are not true rodents, however; they possess four, rather than two, ever-growing incisors, and their pedal structure is bizarrely similar to that of the pokemusoids---primative primates.  This last trait may be convergent, but in any case, xenotheridians are clearly distinct from true rodents and rabbits (neither or which live on Spec).   Although they are not true rodents, xenotheridians are commonly called 'specworld rodents', and indeed, a casual observation would place a xenotheridian right beside a homely mouse or guinea pig.

    Specworld rodents are almost as diverse and successful as their Home-Earth counterparts, with representatives on every continent but Australia and Antarctica.  Some species are tiny, while others grow to almost a meter in length.  Some are aquatic, while others climb trees, hop on stilt-like legs, or spray poison on their attackers.  While not as flashy as some of Spec's other fauna, the xenotheridia are nonetheless worthy of attention.

(Text by Daniel Bensen)

SAMPLE TAXA:

• Spectacled mouse
• Venom rat