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Phoberomys pattersoni
Phoberomys pattersoni was a rodent that lived in the ancient Orinoco River delta approximately 8 million years ago. It was the second-largest of the roughly 7 species of its genus. Like many other rodents, Phoberomys was a herbivore with high-crowned premolars and molars.
An almost complete skeleton of P. pattersoni, discovered in Urumaco, Venezuela in 2000, has enabled researchers to reconstruct its size and probable lifestyle. It was 3 m (9.8 ft) long, with an additional 1.5 m (5 ft.) tail, and probably weighed around 700 kilograms, making it for some years the largest known rodent for which a good size and weight estimate was possible. Its congener Phoberomys insolita was a bit larger still, but it is not known from any reasonably complete remains and thus its size cannot be estimated more precisely.
In early 2008, the discovery of Josephoartigasia monesi was announced, which was even larger.
References
McNeill Alexander, R. (2003): A Rodent as Big as a Buffalo. Science vol. 301, p.1678-9. (HTML abstract link)
Sanchez-Villagra, M.R. et al. (2003): ''The Anatomy of the World's Largest Extinct Rodent. Science vol. 301, p.1708-10. (HTML abstract link)
External links
New Scientist'' story about the find
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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Phoberomys pattersoni
