The giant hutias are an extinct group of large rodents known from fossil and subfossil material in the West Indies. One species, Amblyrhiza inundata, is estimated to have weighed between 50 and 200 kg (110 and 440 lb), big specimens being as large as an American Black Bear. This is much larger than Capybara, the largest rodent living today, but still much smaller than Josephoartigasia monesi, the largest rodent known. These animals may have persisted into historic times and were probably used as a food source by aboriginal humans. All giant hutias are in a single family Heptaxodontidae, which contains no living species; this grouping seems to be paraphyletic and artificial however.

One small species, Quemisia, may have survived as late as the days when the Spanish were exploring the Caribbean.

Some of their smaller relatives from the family Capromyidae, known as hutias, survive in the Caribbean Islands.

[edit] Taxonomy

The giant hutias are divided into two subfamilies, five genera, and six species.

• Family Heptaxodontidae
  • Subfamily Heptaxodontinae
    • Genus Amblyrhiza
      • Amblyrhiza inundata from Anguilla and St. Martin
    • Genus Elasmodontomys
      • Elasmodontomys obliquus from Puerto Rico
    • Genus Quemisia
      • Quemisia gravis from Hispaniola
    • Genus Xaymaca
      • Xaymaca fulvopulvis from Jamaica
  • Subfamily Clidomyinae
    • Genus Clidomys
      • Clidomys osborni from Jamaica
      • Clidomys parvus^[1] from Jamaica

[edit] See also

• Island gigantism

[edit] References

• Biknevicius, A. R.; McFarlane, Donald A. & MacPhee, R. D. E (1993): Body size in Amblyrhiza inundata (Rodentia: Caviomorpha), an extinct megafaunal rodent from the Anguilla Bank, West Indies: estimates and implications. Am. Mus. Novit. 3079: 1-26. PDF fulltext
• MacPhee, R. D. E. & Flemming, C. (2003): A possible heptaxodontine and other caviidan rodents from the Quaternary of Jamaica. Am. Mus. Novit. 3422: 1-42. PDF fulltext
• Nowak, Ronald M. 1999. Walker's Mammals of the World, 6th edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1936 pp. ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
• Woods, C. A. 1989. Biogeography of West Indian rodents. Pp 741–797 in Biogeography of the West Indies: Past Present and Future. Sandhil Crane Press, Gainesville.

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Uncertain status as species, suspected to be juvenile specimens of C. osborni. Morgan, Gary, S.; Wilkins, Laurie (2003). "The Extinct Rodent Clidomys (Heptaxodontidae) From a Late Quaternary Cave Deposit in Jamaica". Caribbean Journal of Science 39 (1): 34–41. http://academic.uprm.edu/publications/cjs/Vol39a/39_34-41.pdf.