Carriacou Rice Rat (Cricetidae gen. & sp.)

This undescribed small taxon is known on the basis of subfossil remains that were found in archaeological deposits on the island of Carriacou north of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles.

The remains may belong to an island endemic species or perhaps to the so called St. Vincent Pygmy Rice Rat (Oligoryzomys victus (Thomas)), a species that apparently was accidentally transported from somewhere on the South American mainland to the Antillean islands by pre-Columbian Amerindians. [1]

*********************

References:

[1] Samuel T. Turvey; Marcelo Weksler; Elaine L. Morris; Mark Nokkert: Taxonomy, phylogeny, and diversity of the extinct Lesser Antillean rice rats (Sigmodontinae: Oryzomyini), with description of a new genus and species. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 160(4): 748-772. 2010 

*********************

edited: 02.12.2018