''Neochoerus aesopi'' was a relatively 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 ...

species native to

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

until their

extinction 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 ...

about 12,000 years ago, being closely related to modern capybaras (genus ''

Hydrochoerus The genus ''Hydrochoerus'' contains two living and two extinct species of rodents from South America, the Caribbean island of Grenada, California and Panama. Capybaras are the largest living rodents in the world. The genus name is derived from th ...

''). It was part of the

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end subfamily botanical names with "-oideae", and zoologi ...

'' Hydrochoerinae''.

Fossils A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved in ...

of it have been found in U.S. states such as

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

and

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

.Additions to the Pleistocene Mammal Faunas of South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia
/ref> The species was originally outlined in 1853, it weighed about 80 kg similar in size to the modern day capybara. It has been synonymized with ''Hydrochoerus holmesi'' and several other formerly recognized extinct taxa. Identification of these types of rodent fossils is an inexact science, and lines between various classifications are often questionable. Unlike extant capybaras, ''N. aesopi'' lived in North America, where its ancestors had migrated from South America during the

Great American Interchange The Great American Biotic Interchange (commonly abbreviated as GABI), also known as the Great American Interchange and the Great American Faunal Interchange, was an important late Cenozoic paleozoogeographic biotic interchange event in which lan ...

.Neogene Mammals: Bulletin 44
/ref>

References

Cavies {{rodent-stub

See also

References