Tag Archives: Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Oligoryzomys victus (Thomas)

St. Vincent Pygmy Rice Rat (Oligoryzomys victus)

Described in 1898, this species is known from a single specimen that was found some years prior at an unspecified location on the island of Saint Vincent in the Caribbean.

The sole specimen has a length of 21,7 cm (including the tail); the body is dark reddish above and buffy white below, the ears are short and brown, the tail is almost hairless, brown above and slightly paler below.

The St. Vincent Pygmy Rice Rat apparently disappeared after the introduction of mongooses (Urva sp.) to the island.

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Some biologists suggest that the St. Vincent Pygmy Rice Rat wasn’t even native to the Caribbean but that it might have been accidentally imported from somewhere on the South American mainland by pre-Columbian Amerindians. [1]

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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

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edited: 17.08.2022