The extensive African Rodentia specimen and tissue collections of the Royal Museum for Central Africa (RMCA), the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS) and the University of Antwerp (UA) provide taxonomical, ecological, geographical and genetic information, as well as measurements and data on parasitic and viral infections. The scientific importance of these collections is that, although numerous African rats and mice have been described over the last 150 years, many species descriptions are based on very few specimens.