Osborn's Key Mouse

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Osborn's Key Mouse[1]
Fossil range: Pleistocene
Conservation status
Prehistoric[2]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Heptaxodontidae
Genus: Clidomys
Species: C. osborni
Binomial name
Clidomys osborni
(Anthony, 1920)
Synonyms
  • cundalli (Anthony, 1920)
  • jamaicensis (Anthony, 1920)
  • major (Anthony, 1920)
  • parvus (Anthony, 1920)

The Osborn's Key Mouse (Clidomys osborni), also known as the Larger Jamaican Giant Hutia, is a now extinct species of large rodent in the Heptaxodontidae family.[3] It was found on the island of Jamaica and likely went extinct before the end of the Pleistocene.[2]

[edit] Synonyms

Clidomys parvus was thought to be a smaller and separate species from C. osborni but later investigation have shown that they may belong to the same species. The distinction is thought to have originated from the examination of juvenile specimens of C. osborni.[2]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Charles A. Woods and C. William Kilpatrick (2005-11-16). in Wilson, D. E., and Reeder, D. M. (eds): Mammal Species of the World, 3rd edition, Johns Hopkins University Press, {{{pages}}}. ISBN 0-801-88221-4. 
  2. ^ a b c Morgan, Gary, S.; Wilkins, Laurie (2003). "The Extinct Rodent Clidomys (Heptaxodontidae) From a Late Quaternary Cave Deposit in Jamaica". Caribbean Journal of Science 39 (1): 34-41. 
  3. ^ Clidomys osborni. Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved on 2008-04-15.
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