Tag Archives: Boromys

Boromys torrei Allen

Torre’s Cave Rat (Boromys torrei)  

Torre’s Cave Rat was described in the year 1917.  

Just like its next relative, the Oriente Cave Rat (Boromys offella Miller), this smaller spiny rat species is known only from subfossil bone remains, that had been found in several caves on the island of Cuba and on the Isla de la Juventud.  

The reasons for its extinction are exactly the same as for its larger relative. [1]  

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References:  

[1] A. van der Geer; G. Lyras; J. de Vos; M. Dermitzakis: Evolution of Island Mammals: Adaptation and Extinction of Placental Mammals on Islands. John Wiley & Sons 2010  

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Photo from: ‘G. M. Allen: Fossil Mammals from Cuba. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College 62: 131-148. 1918’  

(not in copyright)

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edited: 17.02.2020

Boromys offela Miller

Oriente Cave Rat (Boromys offela)  

This species was described in the year 1916 from subfossil bones that had been found on the island of Cuba and on the Isla de la Juventud.  

The Oriente Cave Rat seems to have survived long enough to see the arrival of the first Europeans on the American double continent, because its bones were found in deposits that also contained bones of rats, which again reached Cuba for the first time together with the European discoverers.  

These rats then again obviously played a big role in the extinction of this endemic rodent species. [1]  

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References:  

[1] A. van der Geer; G. Lyras; J. de Vos; M. Dermitzakis: Evolution of Island Mammals: Adaptation and Extinction of Placental Mammals on Islands. John Wiley & Sons 2010  

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Photo from: ‘G. M. Allen: Fossil Mammals from Cuba. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College 62: 131-148. 1918’  

(not in copyright)

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edited: 17.02.2020