''Carpomys dakal'', the Sierra Madre giant cloud rat, 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 cloud rat from the

Late Pleistocene The Late Pleistocene is an unofficial Age (geology), age in the international geologic timescale in chronostratigraphy, also known as the Upper Pleistocene from a Stratigraphy, stratigraphic perspective. It is intended to be the fourth division ...

Luzon Luzon ( , ) is the largest and most populous List of islands in the Philippines, island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the List of islands of the Philippines, Philippine archipelago, it is the economic and political ce ...

, the Philippines. Its remains are known from Callao Cave in the northern part of the island, dating to about 67,000 years ago, with the most recent remains dating from 2,000-4,000 years ago.

Description

Compared to other species in the genus ''

Carpomys ''Carpomys'' is a genus of rodent in the family Muridae. It contains two extant species, and one extinct species: * '' Carpomys melanurus'' * '' Carpomys phaeurus'' *'' Carpomys dakal'' It was first described by Oldfield Thomas Michael Roger ...

'', ''C. dakal'' was considerably larger, similar in weight to cloud rats in the genus '' Phloeomys''. "Dakal" means large in many languages of Northern Luzon, including in the Ibanag and Atta lamguages. ''C. dakal'' lived alongside two other species of cloud rats, '' Crateromys ballik'' and '' Batomys cagayanensis'', as well as the archaic human '' Homo luzonensis''.

Extinction

''C. dakal'' went extinct due to human interventions such as hunting and deforestation, as well as the arrival of

invasive species An invasive species is an introduced species that harms its new environment. Invasive species adversely affect habitats and bioregions, causing ecological, environmental, and/or economic damage. The term can also be used for native spec ...

to the island. Due to its big size among cloud rats, hunting it would have been worthwhile.

References

Rats of Asia Carpomys Endemic fauna of the Philippines Rodents of the Philippines Fauna of Luzon Mammals described in 2021 {{Murinae-stub