Garrido's hutia (''Capromys garridoi'') is a small, critically endangered, rat-like mammal found in coastal mangrove forests on Cuba and nearby islands. It is rarely seen and may be extinct. It is a member of the

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 ...

subfamily (Capromyinae), a group of rodents native to the Caribbean that are mostly endangered or extinct. The only other species in its genus, the

Desmarest's hutia Desmarest's hutia or the Cuban hutia (''Capromys pilorides'') is a stout, furry, rat-like mammal found only on Cuba and nearby islands. Growing to about 60 cm (2 ft), it normally lives in pairs and feeds on leaves, fruit, bark and sometimes small ...

(''Capromys pilorides''), is also found only on Cuba.

Taxonomy

It was formerly classified in the genus '' Mysateles'', but phylogenetic analysis supports it belonging to the genus ''Capromys'', of which the only other member is the

(''C. pilorides''). It is not known if the species is truly distinct from ''C. pilorides''; some authors have interpreted it as a misidentified specimen of it, but others consider it a distinct species based on cranial morphometric analysis. The American Society of Mammalogists tentatively recognizes it as a distinct species.

Habitat and conservation

The Garrido's hutia lives in Cuban mangrove forests, part of the biodiverse

Cuban moist forests The Cuban moist forests is a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion that occupies on Cuba and Isla de la Juventud. The ecoregion receives more than of rainfall annually, and does not have a dry season. Soils are usually derived from quartz, l ...

ecoregion (listed on the

Global 200 The Global 200 is the list of ecoregions identified by the World Wide Fund for Nature ( WWF), the global conservation organization, as priorities for conservation. According to WWF, an ecoregion is defined as a "relatively large unit of land or w ...

). Its range is thought to include small islands in the Banco de los Jardins y Jardinillos of

Canarreos Archipelago Canarreos Archipelago () is an archipelago of Cuba. It is located south of the main island of Cuba, in the Caribbean Sea, at . It is bordered to the east by the Gulf of Cazones, to the north by the Gulf of Batabano and to the west by the Los I ...

south of

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

's Zapata Peninsula and east of the

Isle of Youth Isla de la Juventud (; en, Isle of Youth) is the second-largest Cuban island (after Cuba's mainland) and the seventh-largest island in the West Indies (after mainland Cuba itself, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Trinidad, and Andros Isla ...

. A single animal was collected around 1970 on Cayos Maja off of south-central Cuba. In 1989, two additional animals were captured alive in keys near Cayos Maja.

Notes

References

External links

Animal Info - Garrido's Hutia
Hutias Fauna of Cuba Mammals of Cuba Mammals of the Caribbean Critically endangered animals Mammals described in 1970 Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN Endemic fauna of Cuba {{rodent-stub