  In this paper, we propose a new type of matroids, namely covering matroids,
and investigate the connections with the second type of covering-based rough
sets and some existing special matroids. Firstly, as an extension of
partitions, coverings are more natural combinatorial objects and can sometimes
be more efficient to deal with problems in the real world. Through extending
partitions to coverings, we propose a new type of matroids called covering
matroids and prove them to be an extension of partition matroids. Secondly,
since some researchers have successfully applied partition matroids to
classical rough sets, we study the relationships between covering matroids and
covering-based rough sets which are an extension of classical rough sets.
Thirdly, in matroid theory, there are many special matroids, such as
transversal matroids, partition matroids, 2-circuit matroid and
partition-circuit matroids. The relationships among several special matroids
and covering matroids are studied.
