The giant hutias are an extinct group of large rodents known from fossil and subfossil material in the West Indies. One species, Amblyrhiza inundata, is estimated to have weighed between 50 and 200 kg, big specimens being as large as an American Black Bear. This is much larger than Capybara, the largest rodent living today, but still much smaller than Phoberomys pattersoni, the largest rodent to have ever lived. These animals may have persisted into historic times and were probably used as a food source by aboriginal humans. All giant hutias are in a single family Heptaxodontidae, which contains no living species.

Taxonomy

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The giant hutias are divided into two subfamilies, four genera, and five species.

• Family Heptaxodontidae
  • Subfamily Heptaxodontinae
    • Genus Amblyrhiza
      • Amblyrhiza inundata from Anguilla and St. Martin
    • Genus Elasmodontomys
      • Elasmodontomys obliquus from Puerto Rico
    • Genus Quemisia
      • Quemisia gravis from Hispaniola
  • Subfamily Clidomyinae
    • Genus Clidomys
      • Clidomys osborni from Jamaica
      • Clidomys parvus from Jamaica

References

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• Biknevicius, A. R.; McFarlane, Donald 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. Am. Mus. Novit. 3079: 1-26. PDF fulltext
• Nowak, Ronald M. 1999. Walker's Mammals of the World, 6th edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1936 pp. ISBN 0-801-85789-9
• Woods, C. A. 1989. Biogeography of West Indian rodents. Pp 741-797 in Biogeography of the West Indies: Past Present and Future. Sandhil Crane Press, Gainesville.

Rodents | Hystricognath rodents | Prehistoric rodents

Heptaxodontidae