Castoroides

Giant beavers
Temporal range: Pleistocene, 1.9–0.011 Ma
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Castoroides ohioensis specimen at the Field Museum
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Castoridae
Subfamily: †Castoroidinae
Tribe: †Castoroidini
Genus: †Castoroides
Foster, 1838
Type species
†Castoroides ohioensis
Species
  • †Castoroides ohioensis
  • †Castoroides dilophidus
  • †Castoroides leiseyorum
Synonyms
  • †Castoroides nebrascensis Barbour, 1931[1]
  • †Burosor efforsorius Starrett, 1956[1]

Castoroides (Latin: "beaver" (castor), "like" (oides)[2]), or the giant beaver, is an extinct genus of enormous, bear-sized beavers that lived in North America during the Pleistocene. Two species are currently recognized, C. dilophidus in the Southeastern United States and C. ohioensis in most of North America. C. leiseyorum was previously described from the Irvingtonian age but is now regarded as an invalid name. All specimens previously described as C. leiseyorum are considered to belong to C. dilophidus.

  1. ^ a b Kurtén, B. and E. Anderson (1980). Pleistocene Mammals of North America. Columbia University Press. pp. 236–237. ISBN 978-0-231-03733-4.
  2. ^ "Glossary. American Museum of Natural History". Archived from the original on 20 November 2021.