Osborn's key mouse (''Clidomys osborni''), also known as the larger Jamaican giant hutia, is an
extinct
Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...
species of large
rodent
Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the Order (biology), order Rodentia ( ), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and Mandible, lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal specie ...
in the family
Heptaxodontidae
Heptaxodontidae, rarely called giant hutia, is an extinct family (taxonomy), family of large rodents known from fossil and subfossil material found in the West Indies. One species, ''Blunt-toothed giant hutia, Amblyrhiza inundata'', is estimated ...
.
It was
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...
to the island of
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...
and likely became extinct before the end of the
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...
.
Osborn's key mouse has only been found in six caves: Wallingford Roadside Cave, Sheep Pen Cave, Molton Fissure, Worthy Park Cave 1, Luidas Vale Cave, and Slue's Cave.
Taxonomy
''Clidomys parvus'' was thought to be a smaller and separate species from ''C. osborni'' but later investigation has shown that they may belong to the same species. The distinction is thought to have originated from the examination of
juvenile specimens of ''C. osborni''. This was concluded by examination of the teeth. In conclusion, it is very likely that ''C. osborni'' is the only valid species of ''Clidomys''.
References
Heptaxodontidae
Pleistocene extinctions
Extinct animals of Jamaica
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