Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Megaclassis: Osteichthyes
Cladus: Sarcopterygii
Cladus: Rhipidistia
Cladus: Tetrapodomorpha
Cladus: Eotetrapodiformes
Cladus: Elpistostegalia
Superclassis: Tetrapoda
Cladus: Reptiliomorpha
Cladus: Amniota
Cladus: Synapsida
Cladus: Eupelycosauria
Cladus: Metopophora
Cladus: Haptodontiformes
Cladus: Sphenacomorpha
Cladus: Sphenacodontia
Cladus: Pantherapsida
Cladus: Sphenacodontoidea
Cladus: Therapsida
Cladus: Theriodontia
Cladus: Eutheriodontia
Cladus: Cynodontia
Cladus: Epicynodontia
Cladus: Eucynodontia
Cladus: Probainognathia
Cladus: Prozostrodontia
Cladus: Mammaliamorpha
Cladus: Mammaliaformes
Classis: Mammalia
Cladus: Theriimorpha
Cladus: Theriiformes
Cladus: Trechnotheria
Cladus: Cladotheria
Cladus: Prototribosphenida
Cladus: Zatheria
Cladus: Tribosphenida
Cladus: Boreosphenida
Subclassis: Theria
Cladus: Eutheria
Infraclassis: Placentalia
Magnordo: Boreoeutheria
Superordo: Euarchontoglires
Cladus: Gliriformes
Grandordo: Glires
Mirordo: Simplicidentata
Ordo: Rodentia
Subordo: Hystricomorpha
Infraordo: Hystricognathi
Parvordo: Caviomorpha
Familia: †Heptaxodontidae
Subfamilia (2): Clidomyinae – Heptaxodontinae
Name
Heptaxodontidae Anthony, 1917
References
Primary references
Anthony, H.E. 1917. New fossil rodents from Porto Rico, with additional notes on Elasmodontomys obliquus Anthony and Heteropsomys insulans Anthony. Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 37(4): 183–189. hdl: 2246/1335 Open access Reference page.
Vernacular names
čeština: Velehutiovití
Deutsch: Riesenhutias
English: Giant hutia
Heptaxodontidae, rarely called giant hutia, is an extinct family of large rodents known from fossil and subfossil material found in the West Indies. One species, Amblyrhiza inundata, is estimated to have weighed between 50 and 200 kg (110 and 440 lb), reaching the weight of an eastern gorilla. This is twice as large as the capybara, the largest rodent living today, but still much smaller than Josephoartigasia monesi, the largest rodent known. These animals were probably used as a food source by the pre-Columbian peoples of the Caribbean.
Heptaxodontidae contains no living species and the grouping seems to be paraphyletic[1] and arbitrary, however. One of the smaller species, Quemisia gravis, may have survived as late as when the Spanish began to colonize the Caribbean.[2]
Despite the vernacular name, heptaxodontids are not closely related to the extant hutias of the family Echimyidae. Heptaxodontids are thought to be more closely related to the chinchillas.[3]
Taxonomy
Heptaxodontidae is divided into two subfamilies and contains six species in five genera.
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
Genus Xaymaca
Xaymaca fulvopulvis from Jamaica
Subfamily Clidomyinae
Genus Clidomys
Clidomys osborni from Jamaica
See also
Island gigantism
References
Thomas Defler (2018). History of Terrestrial Mammals in South America. Springer International Publishing. p. 154. ISBN 978-3-319-98449-0. Retrieved 2022-08-27.
Day, David (1989). Vanished Species. New York: Gallery Books. p. 236. ISBN 9780831727826.
Fabre, Pierre-Henri; Vilstrup, Julia T.; Raghavan, Maanasa; Der Sarkissian, Clio; Willerslev, Eske; Douzery, Emmanuel J. P.; Orlando, Ludovic (July 2014). "Rodents of the Caribbean: origin and diversification of hutias unravelled by next-generation museomics". Biology Letters. 10 (7). doi:10.1098/rsbl.2014.0266. ISSN 1744-9561. PMC 4126619. PMID 25115033.
Bibliography
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. American Museum Novitates 3079: 1-26. PDF fulltext
MacPhee, R. D. E. & Flemming, C. (2003): A possible heptaxodontine and other caviidan rodents from the Quaternary of Jamaica. American Museum Novitates 3422: 1-42. PDF fulltext
Nowak, Ronald M. 1999. Walker's Mammals of the World, 6th edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1936 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
Woods, C. A. 1989. Biogeography of West Indian rodents. Pages 741–797 in Biogeography of the West Indies: Past Present and Future. Sandhill Crane Press, Gainesville.
Woods, C.A.; Paéz, R.C.; Kilpatrick, C.W. (2001). "Insular Patterns and Radiations of West Indian Rodents". In Woods, C.A.; Sergile, F.E. (eds.). Biogeography of the West Indies: Patterns and Perspectives. Boca Raton, London, New York, and Washington, D.C.: CRC Press. pp. 335–354. doi:10.1201/9781420039481-18. ISBN 978-0-8493-2001-9.
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