Peru Viscacha
| Peru Viscacha | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Lagostomus crassus | ||||||||||||
| Thomas , 1910 |
The Peru Viscacha ( Lagostomus crassus ) is an extinct rodent that was described in 1910 by Oldfield Thomas on the basis of a skull that the Polish explorer Jan Kalinowski (1857 or 1860–1941) discovered near Santa Ana in the Cusco region of Peru and which is now kept in the Natural History Museum .
features
The skull of the animal of unknown sex is robust and heavy and larger in all dimensions than that of the largest male of the Viscacha ( Lagostomus maximus ). Since fossilization had not yet occurred, it can be assumed that this species did not become extinct until after 1500. The front browbone region is particularly wide and arched upwards. The foramina infraorbitalia - in the hystricognathi large openings for the passage of nerves, blood vessels and muscles in the lower anterior wall of the eye socket ( orbita ) - are wider than in Lagostomus maximus . The palatine foramina (small openings in the posterior roof of the palate) are relatively large. The foramina incisiva (in the anterior roof of the palate) are tiny. The condylobasal length is 122.5 mm and the largest skull width is 82.5 mm.
Systematics
According to the Argentine-Spanish zoologist Ángel Cabrera (1879-1960) Lagostomus crassus could be a form of Lagostomus maximus that was introduced to Peru by the Incas for food purposes. Both Ron Nowak ( Walker's Mammals of the World , 1999) and Wilson / Reeder ( Mammal Species of the World , 2005) consider this taxon to be a separate species. In 2008 the Peruvian Viscacha was added to the list of extinct mammals by the IUCN .
literature
- John E. Jackson, Lyn C. Branch, and Diego Villarreal: Lagostomus maximus . In Mammalian Species 543 (1996); Pp. 1-6, doi: 10.2307 / 3504168
- Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World . 6th edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 1999, ISBN 0-8018-5789-9 (English).
- Don E. Wilson, DeeAnn M. Reeder (Eds.): Mammal Species of the World . A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference . 3. Edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 2005, ISBN 0-8018-8221-4 (English).
Web links
- Lagostomus crassus inthe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2009.
Individual evidence
- ^ The zoological garden: magazine for the entire zoo . Publishing house of the Zoological Society. Frankfurt am Main, Volume 51, 1910: p. 182.
- ↑ Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
- ↑ Oldfield Thomas : A Collection of Mammals from Eastern Buenos Ayres, with Descriptions of related new Mammals from other Localities . In: The Annals and Magazine of Natural History. Series 8 (Volume 5). No. 25, 1910, p. 246 biodiversitylibrary.org
- ^ Cabrera, A. & J. Yepes. 1960. Mamıferos sudamericanos . 2nd Edition. Ediar, Buenos Aires, 1: p. 1-187.