''Megalomys'' is a genus of

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

Cricetidae The Cricetidae are a family of rodents in the large and complex superfamily Muroidea. It includes true hamsters, voles, lemmings, muskrats, and New World rats and mice. At over 870 species, it is either the largest or second-largest family ...

, part of the tribe

Oryzomyini Oryzomyini is a tribe of rodents in the subfamily Sigmodontinae of the family Cricetidae. It includes about 120 species in about thirty genera,Weksler et al., 2006, table 1 distributed from the eastern United States to the southernmost parts of S ...

. The genus contains five large rodents from various

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

islands, of which two are known to have survived into modern times, but all of which are now extinct. The last species to survive was ''M. desmarestii'' from

Martinique Martinique ( ; or ; Kalinago language, Kalinago: or ) is an island in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It was previously known as Iguanacaera which translates to iguana island in Carib language, Kariʼn ...

, which became extinct after the

Mount Pelée Mount Pelée or Mont Pelée ( ; , ; ), meaning "bald mountain" or "peeled mountain" in French, is an active volcano at the northern end of Martinique, an island and French overseas department in the Lesser Antilles Volcanic Arc of the Caribbean ...

eruption in 1902.

Ancient DNA Ancient DNA (aDNA) is DNA isolated from ancient sources (typically Biological specimen, specimens, but also environmental DNA). Due to degradation processes (including Crosslinking of DNA, cross-linking, deamination and DNA fragmentation, fragme ...

analysis places ''Megalomys'' forming a clade with '' Pennatomys,'' sister to the clade containing ''

Aegialomys ''Aegialomys'' is a genus of oryzomyine rodents from the lowlands and mountains of western Peru and Ecuador, including the Galápagos Islands. The species in this genus have historically been placed in ''Oryzomys'', but according to cladistic re ...

'', ''

Nesoryzomys ''Nesoryzomys'' is a genus of rodent in the tribe Oryzomyini of family Cricetidae, endemic to the Galápagos Islands. Five species have been described, with two of them considered extinct. Other rodents restricted to the Galápagos include '' Me ...

Melanomys ''Melanomys'' is a genus of rodent in the tribe Oryzomyini of family Cricetidae, which is distributed in northern South America and adjacent Central America. It contains three species, two of which—''Melanomys robustulus'' and ''Melanomys z ...

'' and ''

Sigmodontomys ''Sigmodontomys'' is a genus of rodent in the tribe Oryzomyini of family Cricetidae. It is related to ''Nectomys ''Nectomys'' is a genus of rodent in the tribe Oryzomyini of family Cricetidae. Musser and Carleton, 2005. It is closely related t ...

,'' having diverged from the mainland clade around 7 million years ago. It contains the following species: Recently extinct species: * '' Megalomys desmarestii'' (

giant rice rat) * '' Megalomys luciae'' (

Saint Lucia Saint Lucia is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. Part of the Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, it is located north/northeast of the island of Saint Vincent (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines), Saint Vincent ...

giant rice rat) Fossil species: *'' Megalomys audreyae'' (

Barbuda Barbuda (; ) is an island and dependency located in the eastern Caribbean forming part of the twin-island state of Antigua and Barbuda as an autonomous entity. Barbuda is located approximately north of Antigua. The only settlements on the i ...

giant rice rat) *'' Megalomys curazensis'' (

Curaçao Curaçao, officially the Country of Curaçao, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located in the southern Caribbean Sea (specifically the Dutch Caribbean region), about north of Venezuela. Curaçao includ ...

giant rice rat) *'' Megalomys georginae'' (

Barbados Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...

giant rice rat)

References

Extinct species section of the Joint Science department, Claremont college
*Turvey, S.T., Brace, S. and Weksler, M
A new species of recently extinct rice rat (Megalomys) from Barbados
Mammalian Biology - Zeitschrift für Säugetierkunde 77(6): 404–413. {{Taxonbar, from=Q572175 Rodent genera Pleistocene first appearances Holocene extinctions Rodent extinctions since 1500 Taxa named by Édouard Louis Trouessart