''Neotoma findleyi'', or Findley's woodrat, is an extinct species of rodent that was found in

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ke ...

. It lived during the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological 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 finally confirmed in ...

, going extinct during the

Rancholabrean The Rancholabrean North American Land Mammal Age on the geologic timescale is the North American faunal stage according to the North American Land Mammal Ages chronology (NALMA), typically set from less than 240,000 years to 11,000 years BP, a pe ...

Naming

The rat was named in honour of James S. Findley, who trained a generation of mammalogists while at the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; es, Universidad de Nuevo México) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 1889, it is the state's flagship academic institution and the largest by enrollment, with over 25,400 ...

and was instrumental in building a greater knowledge of Southwestern mammals.

Diagnosis

The holotype was found in the caves of

. Ages from the cave sites are 29,290 ± 1060 and 33,590 ± 1500 BP, respectively. They are thought to be somewhat older on the based on the faunal makeup from these around these sites as well as with problems with ages based on carbonates from the bones alone. Findley's woodrat was between the size of the Mexican woodrat (''N. mexicana'') and

bushy-tailed woodrat The bushy-tailed woodrat, or packrat (''Neotoma cinerea'') is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae found in Canada and the United States. Its natural habitats are boreal forests, temperate forests, dry savanna, temperate shrubland, and t ...

(''N. cinerea''), closer to former in most measurements. It has been hypothesized that Findley's woodrat may represent a population of bushy-tailed woodrats that became isolated in the during the

Wisconsonian glaciation The Wisconsin Glacial Episode, also called the Wisconsin glaciation, was the most recent glacial period of the North American ice sheet complex. This advance included the Cordilleran Ice Sheet, which nucleated in the northern North American Cor ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q21355882 Prehistoric rodents Pleistocene rodents Prehistoric mammals of North America Pleistocene mammals of North America findleyi