The Anatomy of the World's Largest Extinct Rodent

doi:10.1126/science.1089332

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The Anatomy of the World's Largest Extinct Rodent

Marcelo R. Sánchez-Villagra,¹^* Orangel Aguilera,² Inés Horovitz³

Phoberomys is reported to be the largest rodent that ever existed,although it has been known only from isolated teeth and fragmentarypostcranial bones. An exceptionally complete skeleton of Phoberomyspattersoni was discovered in a rich locality of fossil vertebratesin the Upper Miocene of Venezuela. Reliable body mass estimatesyield $~$ 700 kilograms, more than 10 times the mass of the largestliving rodent, the capybara. With Phoberomys, Rodentia becomesone of the mammalian orders with the largest size range, secondonly to diprotodontian marsupials. Several postcranial featuressupport an evolutionary relationship of Phoberomys with pakaranasfrom the South American rodent radiation. The associated fossilfauna is diverse and suggests that Phoberomys lived in marginallagoons and wetlands.

¹ Universität Tübingen, Spezielle Zoologie, Auf der Morgenstelle 28, D-72076 Tübingen, Germany.
² Universidad Nacional Experimental Francisco de Miranda, CICBA, Complejo Docente Los Perozos, Carretera Variante Sur, Coro, 4101, Estado Falcón, Venezuela.
³ Department of Organismic Biology, Ecology, and Evolution, 621 Young Drive South, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095–1606, USA.

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: marcelo.sanchez{at}uni-tuebingen.de

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