Saint Lucia Giant Rice-rat
Encyclopedia
Megalomys luciae, also known as the Santa Lucian Pilorie or Santa Lucian Giant Rice Rat, as well as several variant spellings, is an extinct rodent
that lived on the island of Saint Lucia
in the eastern Caribbean
. It was the size of a small cat
, and it had a darker belly than Megalomys desmarestii, a closely related species from Martinique
, and slender claws. The last known specimen died in London Zoo
in 1852, after three years of captivity. It probably became extinct in the latter half of the nineteenth century, with the last record dating from 1881. There is a specimen in the collection of the Natural History Museum
in London
.
Rodent
Rodentia is an order of mammals also known as rodents, characterised by two continuously growing incisors in the upper and lower jaws which must be kept short by gnawing....
that lived on the island of Saint Lucia
Saint Lucia
Saint Lucia is an island country in the eastern Caribbean Sea on the boundary with the Atlantic Ocean. Part of the Lesser Antilles, it is located north/northeast of the island of Saint Vincent, northwest of Barbados and south of Martinique. It covers a land area of 620 km2 and has an...
in the eastern Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
. It was the size of a small cat
Cat
The cat , also known as the domestic cat or housecat to distinguish it from other felids and felines, is a small, usually furry, domesticated, carnivorous mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and for its ability to hunt vermin and household pests...
, and it had a darker belly than Megalomys desmarestii, a closely related species from Martinique
Martinique
Martinique is an island in the eastern Caribbean Sea, with a land area of . Like Guadeloupe, it is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. To the northwest lies Dominica, to the south St Lucia, and to the southeast Barbados...
, and slender claws. The last known specimen died in London Zoo
London Zoo
London Zoo is the world's oldest scientific zoo. It was opened in London on 27 April 1828, and was originally intended to be used as a collection for scientific study. It was eventually opened to the public in 1847...
in 1852, after three years of captivity. It probably became extinct in the latter half of the nineteenth century, with the last record dating from 1881. There is a specimen in the collection of the Natural History Museum
Natural History Museum
The Natural History Museum is one of three large museums on Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London, England . Its main frontage is on Cromwell Road...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
Literature cited
- Flannery, T. and Schouten, P. 2001. A Gap in Nature: Discovering the World's Extinct Animals. London: William Heinemann. ISBN 0434008192 (UK edition)
- Musser, G.G. and Carleton, M.D. 2005. Superfamily Muroidea. Pp. 894–1531 in Wilson, D.E. and Reeder, D.M. (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: a taxonomic and geographic reference. 3rd ed. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2 vols., 2142 pp. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0
- Ray, C.E. 1962. The Oryzomyine Rodents of the Antillean Subregion. Doctor of Philosophy thesis, Harvard University, 211 pp.
- Turvey, S. and Helgen, K. 2008. . In IUCN. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2009.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on November 24, 2009.