| 词条 | Giant hutia |
| 释义 |
| fossil_range= {{fossil_range|Miocene|Pleistocene}} |name = Giant hutias |display_parents = 4 |taxon = Heptaxodontidae |authority = Anthony, 1917 |subdivision_ranks = Genera |subdivision = †Amblyrhiza †Clidomys †Elasmodontomys †Quemisia †Xaymaca }} The giant hutias are an extinct group of large rodents known from fossil and subfossil material in the West Indies. One species, Amblyrhiza inundata, is estimated to have weighed between {{convert|50|and|200|kg|abbr=on}}, big specimens being as large as an American black bear. 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 aboriginal humans. All giant hutias are in a single family, Heptaxodontidae, which contains no living species; this grouping seems to be paraphyletic and artificial, however. One of the smaller species, Quemisia, may have survived as late as the time of the earliest Holocene. Some of their smaller relatives from the family Capromyidae, known as hutias, survive in the Caribbean Islands. TaxonomyThe giant hutias are divided into two subfamilies, five genera, and six species.
See also
== References == Bibliography
6 : Hystricognath rodents|Heptaxodontidae|Fossils of the Caribbean|Holocene extinctions|Pleistocene first appearances|Fossil taxa described in 1917 |
| 随便看 |
|
开放百科全书收录14589846条英语、德语、日语等多语种百科知识，基本涵盖了大多数领域的百科知识，是一部内容自由、开放的电子版国际百科全书。