Sminthidae

{{Short description|Family of rodents}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| fossil_range = {{Fossil range|Early Oligocene|present|earliest=Middle Eocene}}

| image = Sicista betulina 01.JPG

| image_caption = Northern birch mouse (Sicista betulina)

| taxon = Sminthidae

| authority = Brandt, 1855

| subdivision_ranks = Genera

| subdivision = Sicista

Multiple extinct genera, see text

| synonyms = Sicistinae Allen, 1901

}}Sminthidae is a family of mouse-like jumping rodents. They are represented by only one extant genus, Sicista, represented by 19 species found throughout most of Eurasia, from central Europe east to Siberia, and south to southern China. However, they were much more diverse and had a much wider range in prehistoric times, having multiple genera and being found not only in Eurasia but also throughout North America, where they existed up to the early Pleistocene. They have a well-attested fossil record which dates as far back as the early Oligocene.{{Cite web|title=Mammal Species of the World - Browse: Sicistinae|url=http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/biology/resources/msw3/browse.asp?id=12900062|access-date=2021-10-08|website=www.departments.bucknell.edu}}

They were formerly classified as the subfamily Sicistinae in the family Dipodidae alongside the jerboas and jumping mice, but phylogenetic evidence supports all three of these belonging to distinct families, thus leaving only the jerboas in Dipodidae.{{Cite journal|last1=Lebedev|first1=Vladimir S.|last2=Bannikova|first2=Anna A.|last3=Pagès|first3=Marie|last4=Pisano|first4=Julie|last5=Michaux|first5=Johan R.|last6=Shenbrot|first6=Georgy I.|date=2013|title=Molecular phylogeny and systematics of Dipodoidea: a test of morphology-based hypotheses|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/zsc.12002|journal=Zoologica Scripta|language=en|volume=42|issue=3|pages=231–249|doi=10.1111/zsc.12002|s2cid=86686066 |issn=1463-6409|doi-access=free}}