Pleistocene rodents

domesticated rodent from South America

Cavia is a genus in the subfamily Caviinae that contains the rodents commonly known as the guinea pigs or cavies. The best-known species in this genus is the domestic guinea pig, Cavia porcellus, a meat animal in South America and a common household pet outside that continent.

Castoroides (from Latin castor (beaver) and -oides (like)), or the giant beaver, is an extinct genus of enormous, bear-sized beavers that lived in North America during the Pleistocene. Two species are currently recognized, C. dilophidus in the Southeastern United States and C. ohioensis in most of North America. C. leiseyorum was previously described from the Irvingtonian age but is now regarded as an invalid name. All specimens previously described as C. leiseyorum are considered to belong to C. dilophidus.

extinct rat species with island gigantism

thumb|left|Paleoart of Neochoerus pinckneyi.

species of mammal (fossil)

Leithia is an extinct genus of giant dormice from the Pleistocene of the Mediterranean islands of Malta and Sicily. It is considered an example of island gigantism. Leithia melitensis is the largest known species of dormouse, living or extinct, being twice the size of any other known species.

Trogontherium is an extinct genus of Eurasian giant beavers that lived from the Late Pliocene to the Late Pleistocene. Fossils of Trogontherium have been found across northern Eurasia, from Western Europe to China and Siberia.

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, which is the only species in the genus. It was endemic to the Mediterranean islands of Corsica and Sardinia, descending from Rhagapodemus, which had colonised the islands around 3.6 million years ago. Its closest living relatives are of the genus Apodemus, which includes the field and wood mice.

Carletonomys cailoi is an extinct rodent from the Pleistocene (Ensenadan) of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. Although known only from a single maxilla (upper jaw) with the first molar, its features are so distinctive that it is placed in its own genus, Carletonomys. Discovered in 1998 and formally described in 2008, it is part of a well-defined group of oryzomyine rodents that also includes Holochilus, Noronhomys, Lundomys, and Pseudoryzomys. This group is characterized by progressive semiaquatic specializations and a reduction in the complexity of molar morphology.

Agathaeromys is an extinct genus of oryzomyine rodents from the Pleistocene of Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles. Two species are known, which differ in size and some details of tooth morphology. The larger A. donovani, the type species, is known from hundreds of teeth that are probably 900,000 to 540,000 years old, found in four localities. A. praeuniversitatis, the smaller species, is known from 35 teeth found in a single fossil site, which is probably 540,000 to 230,000 years old.

Reigomys primigenus is an extinct oryzomyine rodent known from Pleistocene deposits in Tarija Department, southeastern Bolivia. It is known from a number of isolated jaws and molars which show that its molars were almost identical to those of the living Lundomys. On the other hand, the animal possesses a number of derived traits of the palate which document a closer relationship to living Holochilus, the genus of South American marsh rats, and for this reason it was placed in the genus Holochilus when it was first described in 1996. The subsequent discoveries of Noronhomys and Carletonomys, wh

species of mammal