Table 1.

Comparison of the divergence times (in My) of various rodents estimated from the age of L1 subfamilies with those derived from DNA/DNA hybridization

Dichotomy compared	L1 subfamily(ies) Time (or range) of split		DNA/DNA hybridization
Rattus sensu lato/	L1mur1*
other Murines	12 ± 2.5		12.2†
Maxomys/other rats	A-2	B-1
	<7.3  ±  1.4	>5.7  ±  1.6	7.6
Maxomys rajah/	A-2	K
M. whiteheadi	<7.3  ±  1.4	>2.1  ±  0.7	4.3
Leopoldamys and	H
Niviventer/other rats	≈5.7 ± 0.7		5.4
Leopoldamys/Niviventer	B-2	I
	<5.3  ±  1.4	>3.4  ±  0.7	3.3
Berylmys/other rats	C-2
	≈2.8 ± 1.3‡		3.3
Sundamys/other rats	D-1
	≈2.9 ± 1.1		2.5
Bandicota/other rats	F
	≈2.6 ± 0.9		2.5

The DNA/DNA hybridization data are from ref. 33 (table 6). 

^*From refs. 28 and 29. 

^†This value was obtained by calibrating the Mus/Rattus dichotomy from the fossil record at 12.2 Mya (33, 42). 

^‡This value is very similar to those for the D and D-1 subfamilies, which arose soon after Berylmys split from the other rats.