 The discovery of Hantan virus as an etiologic agent of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome in South Korea in 1978 led to identification of related pathogenic and non-pathogenic rodent-borne viruses in Asia and Europe. Their global distribution was recognized in 1993 after connecting newly discovered relatives of these viruses to Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome in the Americas. The 1971 description of the shrew-infecting Hantan virus like Thottapallium virus was long considered an anomaly. Today, this virus and many others that infect Yulipotiflans, bats, fish, rodents, and reptiles are classified among several genera in the continuously expanding family Hantaviridae. This article was authored by Jens H. Kuhn and Kanye Shmaljen.