Megalomys
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Megalomys
''Megalomys'' is a genus of rodent in the family Cricetidae, part of the tribe Oryzomyini. The genus contains five large rodents from various Caribbean islands, of which two are known to have survived into modern times, but all of which are now extinct. The last species to survive was ''M. desmarestii'' from Martinique, which became extinct after the Mount Pelée eruption in 1902. Ancient DNA analysis places ''Megalomys'' forming a clade with '' Pennatomys,'' sister to the clade containing ''Aegialomys'', '' Nesoryzomys, Melanomys'' and ''Sigmodontomys,'' having diverged from the mainland clade around 7 million years ago. It contains the following species: Recently extinct species: * ''Megalomys desmarestii'' (Martinique giant rice rat) * ''Megalomys luciae'' (Saint Lucia giant rice rat) Fossil species: *''Megalomys audreyae'' (Barbuda giant rice rat) *'' Megalomys curazensis'' (Curaçao giant rice rat) *'' Megalomys georginae'' (Barbados Barbados is an island country i ...
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Megalomys
''Megalomys'' is a genus of rodent in the family Cricetidae, part of the tribe Oryzomyini. The genus contains five large rodents from various Caribbean islands, of which two are known to have survived into modern times, but all of which are now extinct. The last species to survive was ''M. desmarestii'' from Martinique, which became extinct after the Mount Pelée eruption in 1902. Ancient DNA analysis places ''Megalomys'' forming a clade with '' Pennatomys,'' sister to the clade containing ''Aegialomys'', '' Nesoryzomys, Melanomys'' and ''Sigmodontomys,'' having diverged from the mainland clade around 7 million years ago. It contains the following species: Recently extinct species: * ''Megalomys desmarestii'' (Martinique giant rice rat) * ''Megalomys luciae'' (Saint Lucia giant rice rat) Fossil species: *''Megalomys audreyae'' (Barbuda giant rice rat) *'' Megalomys curazensis'' (Curaçao giant rice rat) *'' Megalomys georginae'' (Barbados Barbados is an island country i ...
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Megalomys Audreyae
''Megalomys audreyae'', known as the Barbudan (?) muskrat or the Barbuda giant rice rat, is an extinct oryzomyine rodent from Barbuda in the Lesser Antilles. Described on the basis of a single mandible (lower jaw) with the first molar missing and an isolated upper incisor, both of uncertain but Quaternary age, it is one of the smaller members of the genus ''Megalomys''. Little is known about the animal, and its provenance and distinction from "''Ekbletomys hypenemus''", an even larger extinct oryzomyine that also occurred on Barbuda, have been called into question. The toothrow in the lower jaw has a length of 8.7 mm at the alveoli. The third molar is relatively narrow and both the second and third molars have a wide valley between their outer cusps. History Remains of ''Megalomys audreyae'' were found by John Walter Gregory among cave breccia on Barbuda around 1900. The exact locality is unknown. In his 1901 description of '' Oryzomys luciae'', Charles Immanuel Forsyth Majo ...
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Megalomys Luciae
''Megalomys luciae'', also known as the Saint Lucia pilorie or Saint Lucia giant rice-rat, as well as several variant spellings, is an extinct rodent that lived on the island of Saint Lucia in the eastern Caribbean. It was the size of a small cat, and it had a darker belly than ''Megalomys desmarestii'', a closely related species from Martinique, and slender claws. Some other physical features that this rodent species have are brown/ochre dorsal coloration and white soft fur patches. They have webbed hind feet, smooth heels with interdigital pads, and slender claws. Their tail is longer than the length of their whole body from head to toe, the tail contains sparse hairs and is mainly covered with epidermal scales. Their skulls are very delicate with an amphora shape. The last known specimen died in the London Zoo in 1852, after three years of captivity.Flannery and Schouten, 2001 It probably became extinct in the latter half of the 19th century, with the last record dating from 188 ...
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Megalomys Desmarestii
''Megalomys desmarestii'', also known as the Martinique muskrat,Watts, 1990, p. 528 Desmarest's pilorie,Musser and Carleton, 2005 or the Martinique giant rice rat, is an extinct rice rat from Martinique in the Caribbean. Description It was among the largest species of West Indian rice rat, as big as a cat, and was one of the first Caribbean mammals to become extinct during the 20th century. It may have been aquatic, as it was known to escape into the sea when pursued by predators, but it never swam away from the island. Extinction It was common on Martinique until the end of the 19th century, when attempts were made to exterminate it because it was considered to be a pest in the island's coconut plantations. It was also hunted for food; however, due to a strong musky odor, cooking required people to singe off its hair, air out the body overnight and boil it in two batches of water. On 8 May 1902, the volcano Mount Pelée erupted, completely destroying the island's principal c ...
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Megalomys Luciae
''Megalomys luciae'', also known as the Saint Lucia pilorie or Saint Lucia giant rice-rat, as well as several variant spellings, is an extinct rodent that lived on the island of Saint Lucia in the eastern Caribbean. It was the size of a small cat, and it had a darker belly than ''Megalomys desmarestii'', a closely related species from Martinique, and slender claws. Some other physical features that this rodent species have are brown/ochre dorsal coloration and white soft fur patches. They have webbed hind feet, smooth heels with interdigital pads, and slender claws. Their tail is longer than the length of their whole body from head to toe, the tail contains sparse hairs and is mainly covered with epidermal scales. Their skulls are very delicate with an amphora shape. The last known specimen died in the London Zoo in 1852, after three years of captivity.Flannery and Schouten, 2001 It probably became extinct in the latter half of the 19th century, with the last record dating from 188 ...
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Megalomys Desmarestii
''Megalomys desmarestii'', also known as the Martinique muskrat,Watts, 1990, p. 528 Desmarest's pilorie,Musser and Carleton, 2005 or the Martinique giant rice rat, is an extinct rice rat from Martinique in the Caribbean. Description It was among the largest species of West Indian rice rat, as big as a cat, and was one of the first Caribbean mammals to become extinct during the 20th century. It may have been aquatic, as it was known to escape into the sea when pursued by predators, but it never swam away from the island. Extinction It was common on Martinique until the end of the 19th century, when attempts were made to exterminate it because it was considered to be a pest in the island's coconut plantations. It was also hunted for food; however, due to a strong musky odor, cooking required people to singe off its hair, air out the body overnight and boil it in two batches of water. On 8 May 1902, the volcano Mount Pelée erupted, completely destroying the island's principal ...
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Oryzomyini
Oryzomyini is a tribe of rodents in the subfamily Sigmodontinae of the family Cricetidae. It includes about 120 species in about thirty genera,Weksler et al., 2006, table 1 distributed from the eastern United States to the southernmost parts of South America, including many offshore islands. It is part of the clade Oryzomyalia, which includes most of the South American Sigmodontinae. The name ''Oryzomyini'' derives from that of its type genus, ''Oryzomys'', which means "rice rat" or "rice mouse". Many species are also known as rice rats. Taxonomy Contents of Oryzomyini An oryzomyine group was first envisaged by Oldfield Thomas in the early 20th century. He defined it to include pentalophodont species, which have a mesoloph(id) on the upper and lower molars, with a long palate (extending past the third molars). Thomas included ''Oligoryzomys'', ''Oecomys'', and ''Oryzomys'' (which included many species now in other genera), as well as '' Rhagomys'', which is currently classified ...
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Megalomys Curazensis
''Megalomys curazensis'' is a species of rodent from the Late Pleistocene (400,000 to 130,000 years ago) of the island of Curaçao, off northwestern Venezuela. It is a member of the genus ''Megalomys'', which also includes species from other islands of the Lesser Antilles The Lesser Antilles ( es, link=no, Antillas Menores; french: link=no, Petites Antilles; pap, Antias Menor; nl, Kleine Antillen) are a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea. Most of them are part of a long, partially volcanic island arc betwe .... It is known from abundant but fragmentary material found throughout the island.De Buisonjé, 1974 References Bibliography * Buisonjé, P.H. de. 1974. Neogene and Quaternary geology of Aruba, Curaçao and Bonaire. Uitgaven "Natuurwetenschappelijke Studiekring voor Suriname en de Nederlandse Antillen" 74:1–291. * Hooijer, D.A. 1959. Fossil rodents from Curaçao and Bonaire. Studies on the Fauna of Curaçao and other Caribbean Islands 35:1–27. * {{Taxo ...
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Megalomys Georginae
''Megalomys georginae'' is an extinct species of rice rat from Barbados, that belongs in the genus ''Megalomys ''Megalomys'' is a genus of rodent in the family Cricetidae, part of the tribe Oryzomyini. The genus contains five large rodents from various Caribbean islands, of which two are known to have survived into modern times, but all of which are now ex ...''. The species originated from the Late Pleistoscene era. References {{Oryzomyini nav georginae Taxa named by Marcelo Weksler ...
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Pennatomys
''Pennatomys nivalis'' is an extinct oryzomyine rodent from the islands of Sint Eustatius, Saint Kitts, and Nevis in the Lesser Antilles. The only species in the genus ''Pennatomys'', it is known from skeletal remains found in Amerindian archeological sites on all three islands, with dates ranging from 790–520BCE to 900–1200CE. No live specimens are known, but there are several historical records of rodents from Saint Kitts and Nevis that could conceivably refer to ''Pennatomys''. The animal apparently belongs to a group within the tribe Oryzomyini that includes many other island-dwelling species. ''Pennatomys nivalis'' was a medium-sized rodent without many distinctive adaptations. The nasal bones were short and blunt-ended. The zygomatic plate, a bony plate at the side of the skull, was broad. The bony palate was long and flat. The root of the lower incisor was housed in a bony protuberance, the capsular process. The molars were low-crowned and possess accessory crests suc ...
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Barbuda
Barbuda (), is an island located in the eastern Caribbean forming part of the sovereign state of Antigua and Barbuda. It is located north of the island of Antigua and is part of the Leeward Islands of the West Indies. The island is a popular tourist destination because of its moderate climate and coastline. Historically, most of Barbuda's 1,634 residents have lived in the town of Codrington. However, in September 2017, Hurricane Irma damaged or destroyed 95% of the island's buildings and infrastructure and, as a result, all the island's inhabitants were evacuated to Antigua, leaving Barbuda empty for the first time in modern history. By February 2019, most of the residents had returned to the island. History The Pre-Arawakan peoples inhabited the area in the Stone Age. The island was populated by Arawak and Carib Indians when Christopher Columbus landed on his second voyage in 1493. Early settlements by the Spanish were followed by the French and English who formed a col ...
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Curaçao
Curaçao ( ; ; pap, Kòrsou, ), officially the Country of Curaçao ( nl, Land Curaçao; pap, Pais Kòrsou), is a Lesser Antilles island country in the southern Caribbean Sea and the Dutch Caribbean region, about north of the Venezuela coast. It is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Together with Aruba and Bonaire, it forms the ABC islands. Collectively, Curaçao, Aruba, and other Dutch islands in the Caribbean are often called the Dutch Caribbean. Curaçao was formerly part of the Curaçao and Dependencies colony from 1815 to 1954 and later the Netherlands Antilles from 1954 to 2010, as Island Territory of Curaçao ( nl, Eilandgebied Curaçao, links=no, pap, Teritorio Insular di Kòrsou, links=no), and is now formally called the Country of Curaçao. It includes the main island of Curaçao and the much smaller, uninhabited island of Klein Curaçao ("Little Curaçao"). Curaçao has a population of 158,665 (January 2019 est.), with an area of ; its ...
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