Blunt-toothed giant hutia

Blunt-toothed giant hutia[1]
Temporal range: Pleistocene
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: †Heptaxodontidae
Genus: †Amblyrhiza
Cope, 1868
Species:
†A. inundata
Binomial name
†Amblyrhiza inundata
Cope, 1868

The blunt-toothed giant hutia (Amblyrhiza inundata) is an extinct species of giant hutia from Anguilla and Saint Martin that is estimated to have weighed between 50 and 200 kg (110 and 440 lb).[2] It was discovered by Edward Drinker Cope in 1868 in a sample of phosphate sediments mined in an unknown cave (possibly Cavannagh Cave) in Anguilla and sent to Philadelphia to estimate the value of the sediments.[3] It is the sole species of the genus Amblyrhiza in the fossil family Heptaxodontidae.

Some authors have suggested that its extinction may have resulted from overhunting by pre-Columbian humans.[4] However, it is unknown whether this species was contemporaneous with human populations. Fossil specimens discovered at the end of the 20th century on Anguilla have been dated to the last interstadial period,[5] while very recent discoveries made on Coco Islet (Saint-Barthélemy) are dated to 400,000 - 500,000 years;[6] no bone has been recovered yet from a pre-Columbian archaeological site. Despite being described as a "giant hutia", it has recently been recovered as a member of the Chinchilloidea.[7]

  1. ^ Woods, C.A.; Kilpatrick, C.W. (2005). "Infraorder Hystricognathi". In Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 1600. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
  2. ^ Biknevicus, A. R.; McFarlane, D. A.; MacPhee, R. D. E. (1993). "Body size in Amblyrhiza inundata (Rodentia: Caviomorpha), an extinct megafaunal rodent from the Anguilla Bank, West Indies: Estimates and implications". American Museum Novitates (3079). New York: American Museum of Natural History: 1–25. hdl:2246/4976.
  3. ^ "Cavannagh Cave, Anguilla". Wondermondo. 6 October 2012.
  4. ^ "Late Quaternary vertebrate faunas of the Lesser Antilles: historical components of Caribbean biogeography", 1994, Bulletin of Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Pregill, G. K., D. W. Steadman, and D. R. Watters.
  5. ^ "Body size variability and a Sangamonian extinction model for Amblyrhiza, a West Indian megafaunal rodent", 1998, Quaternary Research, D.A. McFarlane, R.D.E. MacPhee & D. Ford
  6. ^ "New specimens of Amblyrhiza inundata (Rodentia, Caviomoprha) from the Middle Pleistocene of Saint Barthélemy, French West Indies", 2014, Caribbean Journal of Earth Science, D.A. McFarlane, J. Lundberg & G. Maincent
  7. ^ Marivaux, Laurent; Vélez-Juarbe, Jorge; Merzeraud, Gilles; Pujos, François; Viñola López, Lázaro W.; Boivin, Myriam; Santos-Mercado, Hernán; Cruz, Eduardo J.; Grajales, Alexandra; Padilla, James; Vélez-Rosado, Kevin I. (2020-02-12). "Early Oligocene chinchilloid caviomorphs from Puerto Rico and the initial rodent colonization of the West Indies". Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 287 (1920): 20192806. doi:10.1098/rspb.2019.2806. ISSN 0962-8452. PMC 7031660. PMID 32075529.