Osborn's key mouse (''Clidomys osborni''), also known as the larger Jamaican giant hutia, is a now extinct species of large

rodent Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the order Rodentia (), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They are na ...

in the family

Heptaxodontidae Heptaxodontidae, rarely called giant hutia, is an extinct family of large rodents known from fossil and subfossil material found in the West Indies. One species, ''Amblyrhiza inundata'', is estimated to have weighed between , reaching the weight ...

. It was found on the island of

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

and likely became extinct before the end of the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...

. Osborn's key mouse has only been found in six caves: Wallingford Roadside Cave, Sheep Pen Cave, Molton Fissure, Worthy Park Cave 1, Luidas Vale Cave, and Slue's Cave.

Synonyms

''Clidomys parvus'' was thought to be a smaller and separate species from ''C. osborni'' but later investigation has shown that they may belong to the same species. The distinction is thought to have originated from the examination of juvenile specimens of ''C. osborni''. This was concluded by examination of the teeth. So it seems that it is very likely the ''C. osborni'' is the only valid species of ''Clidomys'' present in Jamaica.

References

Heptaxodontidae Pleistocene extinctions Extinct animals of Jamaica {{paleo-rodent-stub