''Rhagapodemus'' is a genus of extinct rodent from the
Miocene
The Miocene ( ) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and means "less recent" ...
to
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the '' Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed ...
periods. Most species are known from European localities, although ''R. debruijni'' comes from
India
India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...
.
Taxonomy
''Rhagapodemus'' was closely related to the field mice of the genus ''
Apodemus
''Apodemus'' is a genus of Muridae (true mice and rats). The name is unrelated to that of the ''Mus'' genus, instead being derived from the Greek ἀπό-δημος (literally ''away from home'').
Taxonomy
Related to the Ryūkyū spiny rats ...
''. One species, ''R. minor'', is considered ancestral to another extinct genus, ''
Rhagamys
''Rhagamys'' is an extinct genus of rodents in the subfamily Murinae, the Old World mice and rats. The genus was established by the Swiss zoologist Charles Immanuel Forsyth Major to accommodate ''Rhagamys orthodon'', commonly known as Hensel's f ...
'', which was endemic to
Sardinia
Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label= Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label= Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, af ...
and
Corsica up until the end of the Pleistocene.
References
{{Taxonbar, from= Q107802966
Prehistoric rodent genera
Miocene rodents
Pliocene rodents
Pleistocene rodents
Prehistoric mammals of Europe
Prehistoric mammals of Asia
Muridae