''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 lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are roden ...

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 almost 608 species, it is the second-largest family of mammals, a ...

, 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 ...

. The genus contains five large rodents from various Caribbean 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 ( , ; gcf, label=Martinican Creole, Matinik or ; Kalinago language, Kalinago: or ) is an island and an Overseas department and region, overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France. An integral part of ...

, which became extinct after the

Mount Pelée Mount Pelée or Mont Pelée ( ; french: Montagne Pelée, ; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Montann Pèlé, meaning "bald mountain" or "peeled mountain") is an active volcano at the northern end of Martinique, an island and French overseas departme ...

eruption in 1902.

Ancient DNA Ancient DNA (aDNA) is DNA isolated from ancient specimens. Due to degradation processes (including cross-linking, deamination and fragmentation) ancient DNA is more degraded in comparison with contemporary genetic material. Even under the bes ...

analysis places ''Megalomys'' forming a clade with ''

Pennatomys ''Pennatomys nivalis'' is an extinct oryzomyine rodent from the islands of Sint Eustatius, Saint Kitts, and Nevis in the Lesser Antilles. The only species in the genus ''Pennatomys'', it is known from skeletal remains found in Amerindian archeol ...

,'' sister to the clade containing '' Aegialomys'', ''

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 Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism ...

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 ...

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

Megalomys desmarestii ''Megalomys desmarestii'', also known as the Martinique muskrat,Watts, 1990, p. 528 Desmarest's pilorie,Musser and Carleton, 2005 or the Martinique giant rice rat, is an extinct rice rat from Martinique in the Caribbean. Description It was amo ...

'' (

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

Saint Lucia Saint Lucia ( acf, Sent Lisi, french: Sainte-Lucie) is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. The island was previously called Iouanalao and later Hewanorra, names given by the native Arawaks and Caribs, two Amerindi ...

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

Barbuda Barbuda (), is an island located in the eastern Caribbean forming part of the sovereign state of Antigua and Barbuda. It is located north of the island of Antigua and is part of the Leeward Islands of the West Indies. The island is a popula ...

giant rice rat) *''

Megalomys curazensis ''Megalomys curazensis'' is a species of rodent from the Late Pleistocene (400,000 to 130,000 years ago) of the island of Curaçao, off northwestern Venezuela. It is a member of the genus ''Megalomys'', which also includes species from other isla ...

'' (

Curaçao Curaçao ( ; ; pap, Kòrsou, ), officially the Country of Curaçao ( nl, Land Curaçao; pap, Pais Kòrsou), is a Lesser Antilles island country in the southern Caribbean Sea and the Dutch Caribbean region, about north of the Venezuela coas ...

giant rice rat) *''

Megalomys georginae ''Megalomys georginae'' is an extinct species of rice rat from Barbados, that belongs in the genus ''Megalomys ''Megalomys'' is a genus of rodent in the family Cricetidae, part of the tribe Oryzomyini. The genus contains five large rodents from ...

'' (

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate ...

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