Canarian giant rats
| Canarian giant rats | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Canariomys bravoi , Museo de la Naturaleza y el Hombre ( Tenerife ) |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Canariomys | ||||||||||||
| Crusafont Pairó & Petter , 1964 |
The Canary Giant Rats ( Canariomys ) are an extinct genus from the subfamily of Altweltmäuse (Murinae) within the family of long-tailed mice (Muridae). There were a total of two species that were found in the Canary Islands . Canariomys bravoi lived on Tenerife , whereas Canariomys tamarani lived on Gran Canaria .
Canariomys bravoi was relatively large and weighed around 1 kilogram. The remains that they have found are older than those of Canariomys tamarani , as the most recent finds date from the late Pleistocene , around 12,000 years ago. It is not known whether its extinction is related to human settlement or whether it disappeared before that. Found fossil remains of this animal in a very Tenerife, especially in deposits in caves and volcanic tunnels, where they are often associated with remains of other species such as giant lizards (z. B. Gallotia goliath was found).
From Canariomys tamarani , fossil remains of the animal have been found in various places in the center of Gran Canaria; the most recent finds are dated to the border between the Pleistocene and Holocene . Canariomys tamarani reached a head body length of 25 centimeters, so it was about the size of a brown rat ( Rattus norvegicus ), so the name "giant rat" seems exaggerated - it was, however, significantly larger than the second type of mouse that lived on Gran Canaria at that time, the Canary lava mouse ( Malpaisomys insularis ), which is also extinct today. It is believed that the emergence of humans, and especially the introduction of domestic cats, caused the species to become extinct.
Web links
literature
- Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. 6th edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD et al. 1999, ISBN 0-8018-5789-9 .
- Michael D. Carleton, Guy G. Musser : Order Rodentia. In: Don E. Wilson, DeeAnn M. Reeder (Eds.): Mammal Species of the World . 2nd volume. 3rd edition. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore MD 2005, ISBN 0-8018-8221-4 , pp. 745-752.