ABSTRACT Here we report a new early Oligocene cricetid, Paracricetops virgatoincisus, gen. et sp. nov., discovered from the Caijiachong locality in Yunnan Province, China. This new cricetid shows a peculiar combination of characters, such as massive and transversely positioned cusps, crenulated cheek tooth enamel, and a deep fossette enclosed between protocone and paracone. These characters are also present in Cricetops, a cricetid rodent of which the phylogenetic relationship with other cricetids remains debatable. Our phylogenetic analysis based on a data matrix including 37 taxa and 67 morphological characters reveals that Paracricetops and Cricetops are sister groups. Paracricetops, Cricetops, Deperetomys, Meteamys, Selenomys, Melissiodon, Mirrabella, Enginia, Muhsinia, and Aralocricetodon constitute a monophyletic group. This result suggests that these genera should all be grouped in the subfamily Cricetopinae. Our phylogenetic analysis also casts new lights on the origin and early radiation of the f...