Oryzomys antillarum, also known as the Jamaican rice rat, is an extinct rodent of Jamaica. It was a medium-sized rat, similar in most respects to OryZomys couesi. The species probably became extinct late in the 19th century. It may still be found in the unexplored interior of Cuba or Hispaniola.
About Oryzomys antillarum in brief
Oryzomys antillarum, also known as the Jamaican rice rat, is an extinct rodent of Jamaica. It is similar to O. couesi of mainland Central America, from where it may have dispersed to its island during the last glacial period. The species probably became extinct late in the 19th century, perhaps due to the introduction of the small Asian mongoose, competition with introduced rodents such as the brown rat, and habitat destruction. It was a medium-sized rat, similar in most respects to OryZomys couesi. The head and body length was 120 to 132 mm and the skull was about 30 mm long. The upperparts were reddish and graded into the yellowish underparts. The tail was about as long as the head andBody, sparsely haired, and darker above than below. It had longer nasal bones, shorter incisive foramina, and more robust zygomatic arches. It may still be found in the unexplored interior of Cuba or Hispaniola. In 1920, Harold Anthony reported that remains of O. antillarums were common in coastal caves, suggesting that the species had previously been an important part of the diet of the barn owl. In 1942, Glover Morrill Allen doubted that it was even a distinct species and in his 1962 Ph.
D. thesis, Clayton Ray, who examined numerous cave specimens, agreed and retained it as only a weakly differentiated subspecies. In a 1993 review, Gary Morgan reinstated the animal as a separate species. However, in a 2006 review, Guy Musser and Michael Carleton, writing for the 2005 third edition of Mammal Species of the World, continued to classify it as part of Oryzoms couesi, but did not reference Morgan. According to the classification by Arroyo-Cabrales and Joaquín Carroyo, Ory zomys is one of eight species in the genus Ory Zomys, which occurs from the eastern United States into northwestern South America into northwestern North America. O antillum is part of a group of species that includes the Central American O. couesi and various other species with more limited and peripheral distributions, which is centered on the western U.S. and Central American section of the genus. It has been described as a subspecies of the marsh rice rat of the United States, but it is not considered a species of its own.
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This page is based on the article Oryzomys antillarum published in Wikipedia (as of Oct. 30, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
