Verhoeven's giant rat

Verhoeven's giant tree rat; Temporal range: Holocene
	Holotypes of Papagomys theodorverhoeveni (above) and Papagomys armandvillei (below), with four diagnostic characters marked
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Rodentia
Family:	Muridae
Genus:	Papagomys
Species:	P. theodorverhoeveni
Binomial name
	Papagomys theodorverhoeveni; Musser, 1981

Verhoeven's giant rat (Papagomys theodorverhoeveni) is an extinct rat of subfamily Murinae that lived on Flores in Indonesia.^[1] It was judged to be extinct in 1996. However, experts believe that it died out before 1500 AD. The species is known only from several subfossil fragments. It was named after Dutch priest Theodor Verhoeven. A 1974 report of a recent specimen has been judged to represent P. armandvillei instead.^[2] It was somewhat smaller than P. armandivillei, with an estimated body mass of around 0.6–1.6 kilograms (1.3–3.5 lb). It is assumed to have been terrestrial, and to have been an omnivore, consuming fruit and invertebrates.^[3]

References[edit]

^ Musser, G.G.; Carleton, M.D. (2005). "Superfamily Muroidea". In Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 1430. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
^ Gerrie, R.; Kennerley, R. (2017). "Papagomys armandvillei". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2017: e.T15975A22399875. Retrieved 27 December 2019.
^ Veatch, E. Grace; Tocheri, Matthew W.; Sutikna, Thomas; McGrath, Kate; Wahyu Saptomo, E.; Jatmiko; Helgen, Kristofer M. (May 2019). "Temporal shifts in the distribution of murine rodent body size classes at Liang Bua (Flores, Indonesia) reveal new insights into the paleoecology of Homo floresiensis and associated fauna". Journal of Human Evolution. 130: 45–60. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2019.02.002. hdl:2440/121139. PMID 31010543.

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