Publication Date:
2003-09-23
Description:
Phoberomys is reported to be the largest rodent that ever existed, although it has been known only from isolated teeth and fragmentary postcranial bones. An exceptionally complete skeleton of Phoberomys pattersoni was discovered in a rich locality of fossil vertebrates in the Upper Miocene of Venezuela. Reliable body mass estimates yield approximately 700 kilograms, more than 10 times the mass of the largest living rodent, the capybara. With Phoberomys, Rodentia becomes one of the mammalian orders with the largest size range, second only to diprotodontian marsupials. Several postcranial features support an evolutionary relationship of Phoberomys with pakaranas from the South American rodent radiation. The associated fossil fauna is diverse and suggests that Phoberomys lived in marginal lagoons and wetlands.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Sanchez-Villagra, Marcelo R -- Aguilera, Orangel -- Horovitz, Ines -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2003 Sep 19;301(5640):1708-10.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Universitat Tubingen, Spezielle Zoologie, Auf der Morgenstelle 28, D-72076 Tubingen, Germany. marcelo.sanchez@uni-tuebingen.de〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14500978" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Animals
;
Biological Evolution
;
Body Constitution
;
Body Weight
;
Bone and Bones/anatomy & histology
;
Diet
;
Environment
;
Femur/anatomy & histology
;
Forelimb/anatomy & histology
;
*Fossils
;
Hindlimb/anatomy & histology
;
Humerus/anatomy & histology
;
Locomotion
;
Phylogeny
;
Rodentia/*anatomy & histology/classification/physiology
;
Skeleton
;
Skull/anatomy & histology
;
Tooth/anatomy & histology
;
Venezuela
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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