The plate-toothed giant hutia (''Elasmodontomys obliquus'') is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

species of

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 is the only species within the genus ''Elasmodontomys''. It was found in

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

. The rodent is thought to have weighed and survived for at least 2000 years after humans colonised Puerto Rico. Despite being described as a "giant

hutia Hutias (known in Spanish as jutía) are moderately large cavy-like rodents of the subfamily Capromyinae that inhabit the Caribbean islands, with most species restricted to Cuba and Hispaniola. Twenty species of hutia have been identified, but at ...

", it has recently been recovered as a member of the

Chinchilloidea Caviomorpha is the rodent infraorder or parvorder that unites all New World hystricognaths. It is supported by both fossil and molecular evidence. The Caviomorpha was for a time considered to be a separate order outside the Rodentia, but is now ...

References

Heptaxodontidae Mammals of Puerto Rico Endemic fauna of Puerto Rico Extinct rodents Extinct animals of North America Rodents of North America Holocene extinctions Quaternary mammals of North America Mammals described in 1916 {{paleo-rodent-stub