 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (June 2023) |
| Malagasy giant rat Temporal range: Holocene
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| Wild Malagasy giant rat at the Kirindy Forest Reserve, Madagascar | |
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Nesomyidae |
| Genus: | Hypogeomys |
| Species: | H. antimena
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| Binomial name | |
| Hypogeomys antimena A. Grandidier, 1869
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| Malagasy giant rat range | |
The Malagasy giant rat (Hypogeomys antimena), also known as the votsotsa or votsovotsa, is a nesomyid rodent found only in the Menabe region of Madagascar.[2] It is an endangered species due to habitat loss, slow reproduction, and limited range (200 square kilometres north of Morondava, between the rivers Tomitsy and Tsiribihina) [3] Pairs are monogamous and females bear only one or two young per year. It is the only extant species in the genus Hypogeomys; another species, Hypogeomys australis, is known from subfossil remains a few thousand years old.
- ^ Wilmet, L.; Volahy, A.; Hudson, M. (2022). "Hypogeomys antimena". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2022. Retrieved 21 July 2022.
- ^ Musser, G. G.; Carleton, M. D. (2005). "Superfamily Muroidea". 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. 951. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
- ^ S. Sommer & H. Tichy (1999). "Major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II polymorphism and paternity in the monogamous Hypogeomys antimena, the endangered, largest endemic Malagasy rodent". Molecular Ecology. 8 (8): 1259–1272. Bibcode:1999MolEc...8.1259S. doi:10.1046/j.1365-294X.1999.00687.x. PMID 10447867. S2CID 23685053.