The 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...

 region is home to a diverse and largely endemic rodent

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....

 fauna. This includes the endemic family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 Capromyidae (hutias), which are largely limited to the Greater Antilles

Greater Antilles

The Greater Antilles are one of three island groups in the Caribbean. Comprising Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola , and Puerto Rico, the Greater Antilles constitute almost 90% of the land mass of the entire West Indies.-Greater Antilles in context :The islands of the Caribbean Sea, collectively known as...

, and two other groups of endemic hystricognaths, the heteropsomyines and giant hutia

Giant hutia

The giant hutias are an extinct group of large rodents known from fossil and subfossil material in the West Indies. One species, Amblyrhiza inundata, is estimated to have weighed between , big specimens being as large as an American Black Bear...

s, including the extinct bear

American black bear

The American black bear is a medium-sized bear native to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most common bear species. Black bears are omnivores, with their diets varying greatly depending on season and location. They typically live in largely forested areas, but do leave forests in...

-sized Amblyrhiza inundata. Lesser Antillean

Lesser Antilles

The Lesser Antilles are a long, partly volcanic island arc in the Western Hemisphere. Most of its islands form the eastern boundary of the Caribbean Sea with the Atlantic Ocean, with the remainder located in the southern Caribbean just north of South America...

 rodent faunas mostly consist of oryzomyines, members of a distantly related group of rodents, and include two of the largest known oryzomyines, Megalomys desmarestii and "Oryzomys hypenemus

Oryzomys hypenemus

"Ekbletomys hypenemus" is an extinct oryzomyine rodent from the islands of Antigua and Barbuda, Lesser Antilles. It was described as the only species of the subgenus "Ekbletomys" of genus Oryzomys in a 1962 Ph.D. thesis, but that name is not available under the International Code of Zoological...

". Various other rodents are limited to land-bridge islands such as Trinidad

Trinidad

Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...

, which were connected to the mainland during glacial-period

Glacial period

A glacial period is an interval of time within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate within an ice age...

 lowered sea levels in the Pleistocene

Pleistocene

The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....

, or to smaller portions of the Caribbean archipelago. Much of the native rodent fauna of the Caribbean are extinct

Extinction

In biology and ecology, extinction is the end of an organism or of a group of organisms , normally a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and recover may have been lost before this point...

 because of human influences, particularly following the introduction of invasive species

Invasive species

"Invasive species", or invasive exotics, is a nomenclature term and categorization phrase used for flora and fauna, and for specific restoration-preservation processes in native habitats, with several definitions....

 such as Old World rats.

For the purposes of this article, the "Caribbean" includes all islands in the Caribbean Sea

Caribbean Sea

The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean located in the tropics of the Western hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico and Central America to the west and southwest, to the north by the Greater Antilles, and to the east by the Lesser Antilles....

 (except for small islets close to the mainland) and the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos Islands

Turks and Caicos Islands

The Turks and Caicos Islands are a British Overseas Territory and overseas territory of the European Union consisting of two groups of tropical islands in the Caribbean, the larger Caicos Islands and the smaller Turks Islands, known for tourism and as an offshore financial centre.The Turks and...

, and Barbados

Barbados

Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...

, which are not in the Caribbean Sea but biogeographically

Biogeography

Biogeography is the study of the distribution of species , organisms, and ecosystems in space and through geological time. Organisms and biological communities vary in a highly regular fashion along geographic gradients of latitude, elevation, isolation and habitat area...

 belong to the same Caribbean bioregion

Caribbean bioregion

The Caribbean bioregion is a biogeographic region that includes the islands of the Caribbean Sea, which share a flora and fauna distinct from surrounding bioregions....

.

Overview

The Caribbean rodent fauna is dominated by oryzomyines

Oryzomyini

Oryzomyini is a tribe of rodents in the subfamily Sigmodontinae of family Cricetidae. It includes about 120 species in about thirty genera, distributed from the eastern United States to the southernmost parts of South America, including many offshore islands...

 (rice rats), members of the family Cricetidae

Cricetidae

The Cricetidae are a family of rodents in the large and complex superfamily Muroidea. It includes true hamsters, voles, lemmings, and New World rats and mice...

, and by three groups of hystricognaths: hutia

Hutia

Hutias are moderately large cavy-like rodents of the family Capromyidae that inhabit the Caribbean Islands. They range in size from , and can weigh up to . Twenty species of hutia have been identified, and half may be extinct. They resemble the nutria in some respects...

s (family Capromyidae), giant hutia

Giant hutia

The giant hutias are an extinct group of large rodents known from fossil and subfossil material in the West Indies. One species, Amblyrhiza inundata, is estimated to have weighed between , big specimens being as large as an American Black Bear...

s (taxonomy unclear), and heteropsomyines (subfamily Heteropsomyinae), which are part of the spiny rat

Spiny rat

The spiny rats are a group of hystricognath rodents in the family Echimyidae. They are distributed from central Central America through much of South America. They were also found in the West Indies until the 19th century...

 family (Echimyidae). Many other rodent groups are known from the Caribbean, but these are either introduced

Introduced species

An introduced species — or neozoon, alien, exotic, non-indigenous, or non-native species, or simply an introduction, is a species living outside its indigenous or native distributional range, and has arrived in an ecosystem or plant community by human activity, either deliberate or accidental...

 or limited to islands outside the limits of the West Indian faunal region as defined by Koopman.

So far, no rodents have been recorded from Navassa Island

Navassa Island

Navassa Island is a small, uninhabited island in the Caribbean Sea, claimed as an unorganized unincorporated territory of the United States, which administers it through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Haiti, which claims to have had sovereignty over Navassa since 1801, also claims the island...

, the Turks and Caicos Islands

Turks and Caicos Islands

The Turks and Caicos Islands are a British Overseas Territory and overseas territory of the European Union consisting of two groups of tropical islands in the Caribbean, the larger Caicos Islands and the smaller Turks Islands, known for tourism and as an offshore financial centre.The Turks and...

, the British Virgin Islands

British Virgin Islands

The Virgin Islands, often called the British Virgin Islands , is a British overseas territory and overseas territory of the European Union, located in the Caribbean to the east of Puerto Rico. The islands make up part of the Virgin Islands archipelago, the remaining islands constituting the U.S...

, Saint Barthélemy

Saint Barthélemy

Saint Barthélemy , officially the Territorial collectivity of Saint Barthélemy , is an overseas collectivity of France. Often abbreviated to Saint-Barth in French, or St. Barts in English, the indigenous people called the island Ouanalao...

, Redonda

Redonda

Redonda is a very small, uninhabited Caribbean island which is part of Antigua and Barbuda, in the Leeward Islands, West Indies.This small island lies southwest of Antigua, in the waters between the islands of Nevis and Montserrat...

, Saba, the federal dependencies of Venezuela

Federal dependencies of Venezuela

The Federal Dependencies of Venezuela encompass all of Venezuela's off shore islands in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Venezuela...

, or the Insular Region

Insular Region (Colombia)

The Insular Region is considered by some as a geopolitical region of Colombia which comprises the areas outside the continental territories of Colombia and includes the San Andrés y Providencia Department in the Caribbean sea and the Malpelo and Gorgona Islands in the Pacific Ocean...

 of Colombia

Colombia

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

.

Oryzomyines are a diverse group, consisting over a hundred species found from the eastern United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 south to Tierra del Fuego

Tierra del Fuego

Tierra del Fuego is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of a main island Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego divided between Chile and Argentina with an area of , and a group of smaller islands including Cape...

, including also the Galápagos Islands

Galápagos Islands

The Galápagos Islands are an archipelago of volcanic islands distributed around the equator in the Pacific Ocean, west of continental Ecuador, of which they are a part.The Galápagos Islands and its surrounding waters form an Ecuadorian province, a national park, and a...

. In the Caribbean, they are found on many islands close to the mainland, from the Florida Keys to Tobago, but also on Jamaica and throughout the Lesser Antilles north to Anguilla. Their invasion of the Lesser Antilles must have been relatively recent, as sigmodontine

Sigmodontinae

The subfamily Sigmodontinae is one of the most diverse groups of mammals. It includes New World rats and mice, with at least 376 species. Many authorities include the Neotominae and Tylomyinae as part of a larger definition of Sigmodontinae. When those genera are included, the species count...

 rodents only reached South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

 from North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

 about 5 million years ago

Montehermosan

The Montehermosan age is a period of geologic time within the Miocene epoch of the Neogene used more specifically with South American Land Mammal Ages. It follows the Huayquerian and precedes the Chapadmalalan age....

. In the Lesser Antilles, most species have not been named or described, and the true diversity of the group in that region remains unclear. All endemic Caribbean oryzomyines are now extinct, though several island populations of mainland species survive.

Hutia

Hutia

Hutias are moderately large cavy-like rodents of the family Capromyidae that inhabit the Caribbean Islands. They range in size from , and can weigh up to . Twenty species of hutia have been identified, and half may be extinct. They resemble the nutria in some respects...

s are the most diverse endemic Caribbean hystricognath group and the only one that still survives, although many species are extinct. Most species are known from Cuba and Hispaniola, but hutias are also indigenous to Jamaica and some smaller islands and they have been introduced to several other parts of the Caribbean. The hutia family is divided into four subfamilies, of which one or two are now extinct. They have been present in the Caribbean for a considerable span of time, as documented by the find of a hutia, Zazamys, in early Miocene

Burdigalian

The Burdigalian is, in the geologic timescale, an age or stage in the early Miocene. It spans the time between 20.43 ± 0.05 Ma and 15.97 ± 0.05 Ma...

 sediments on Cuba. This represents more than half the age (~32 million years) of the earliest known hystricognath rodent in South America (a continent hystricognaths colonized by rafting

Rafting event

Oceanic dispersal is a type of biological dispersal that occurs when organisms transfer from one land mass to another by way of a sea crossing on large clumps of floating vegetation. Such matted clumps of vegetation are often seen floating down major rivers in the tropics and washing out to sea,...

 across the Atlantic

Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...

 from their ancestral home in Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

).

Giant hutia

Giant hutia

The giant hutias are an extinct group of large rodents known from fossil and subfossil material in the West Indies. One species, Amblyrhiza inundata, is estimated to have weighed between , big specimens being as large as an American Black Bear...

s are a heterogeneous group of hystricognaths that include not only truly giant forms like Amblyrhiza, but also the small Xaymaca. All are now extinct. Some have previously been included in a family Heptaxodontidae, but there is little evidence that the group is truly natural

Clade

A clade is a group consisting of a species and all its descendants. In the terms of biological systematics, a clade is a single "branch" on the "tree of life". The idea that such a "natural group" of organisms should be grouped together and given a taxonomic name is central to biological...

. Giant hutias are known from Jamaica (Clidomys, Xaymaca, and possibly another, very large form), Hispaniola (Quemisia), Puerto Rico (Elasmodontomys, Tainotherium), and Anguilla and Saint Martin in the northern Lesser Antilles (Amblyrhiza).

Heteropsomyines form a distinct subfamily of the widespread Neotropic

Neotropic

In biogeography, the Neotropic or Neotropical zone is one of the eight terrestrial ecozones. This ecozone includes South and Central America, the Mexican lowlands, the Caribbean islands, and southern Florida, because these regions share a large number of plant and animal groups.It is sometimes used...

 family of spiny rat

Spiny rat

The spiny rats are a group of hystricognath rodents in the family Echimyidae. They are distributed from central Central America through much of South America. They were also found in the West Indies until the 19th century...

s, which is known only from Cuba, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico. On each island, a distinct genus with two species has been found, but all are now extinct. A fourth genus, Puertoricomys, is known from an older, perhaps Pliocene

Pliocene

The Pliocene Epoch is the period in the geologic timescale that extends from 5.332 million to 2.588 million years before present. It is the second and youngest epoch of the Neogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Pliocene follows the Miocene Epoch and is followed by the Pleistocene Epoch...

, deposit on Puerto Rico. These animals exhibited characters intermediate between hutias and spiny rats and have sometimes been treated as a subfamily of the Capromyidae.

Among introduced rodents, the house mouse

House mouse

The house mouse is a small rodent, a mouse, one of the most numerous species of the genus Mus.As a wild animal the house mouse mainly lives associated with humans, causing damage to crops and stored food....

 (Mus musculus), brown rat

Brown Rat

The brown rat, common rat, sewer rat, Hanover rat, Norway rat, Brown Norway rat, Norwegian rat, or wharf rat is one of the best known and most common rats....

 (Rattus norvegicus), and black rat

Black Rat

The black rat is a common long-tailed rodent of the genus Rattus in the subfamily Murinae . The species originated in tropical Asia and spread through the Near East in Roman times before reaching Europe by the 1st century and spreading with Europeans across the world.-Taxonomy:The black rat was...

 (Rattus rattus) are most common; these three species, originally from the Old World

Old World

The Old World consists of those parts of the world known to classical antiquity and the European Middle Ages. It is used in the context of, and contrast with, the "New World" ....

, have been introduced to all parts of the world and occur throughout the Caribbean. They are not mentioned specifically in the faunal lists in this article.

Agoutis

Common agouti

The popular term Agouti designates several rodent species of the genus Dasyprocta that inhabit areas of Middle America, the West Indies, and northern South America. They are related to guinea pigs and look quite similar but have longer legs. The species vary in color from tawny to dark brown with...

, members of a mainland American hystricognath genus that is also indigenous to some Caribbean islands, have also been widely introduced, resulting, among others, in the presence of the Brazilian agouti

Brazilian Agouti

The Brazilian Agouti, Dasyprocta leporina, is a South American agouti species from the family Dasyproctidae.It is found in Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Trinidad & Tobago and Brazil.It has also been introduced to the Lesser Antilles...

 (Dasyprocta leporina) on most of the Lesser Antilles

Lesser Antilles

The Lesser Antilles are a long, partly volcanic island arc in the Western Hemisphere. Most of its islands form the eastern boundary of the Caribbean Sea with the Atlantic Ocean, with the remainder located in the southern Caribbean just north of South America...

. Several other hystricognaths have also been introduced in parts of the Caribbean.

The genera of Caribbean rodents are classified as follows:

• Order Rodentia
  • Suborder Hystricomorpha
    Hystricomorpha
    The term Hystricomorpha has had many definitions throughout its history. In the broadest sense it refers to any rodent with a hystricomorphous zygomasseteric system. This includes the Hystricognathi, Ctenodactylidae, Anomaluridae, and Pedetidae...
    
    
    • Infraorder Hystricognathi
      Hystricognathi
      Hystricognathi is an infraorder of rodents. Hystricognaths are distinguished from other rodents by the bone structure of their skulls. The masseter medialis passes partially through the infraorbital foramen and connects to the bone on the opposite side...
      
       (hystricognaths)
      • Family Capromyidae (hutias)
        • Subfamily Capromyinae: Capromys, Geocapromys
          Geocapromys
          Geocapromys is a genus of rodent, comprising two extant species of hutia. The Bahamian Hutia or Ingraham's Hutia is native to the Bahamas, while the Jamaican Hutia , which is also known as the Jamaican Coney or Brown's Hutia, is endemic to Jamaica.The Little Swan Island Hutia Geocapromys is a...
          
          , Mesocapromys
          Mesocapromys
          Mesocapromys is a genus of rodent in the Capromyidae family. The genus is restricted to Cuba and associated islands.It contains the following species:* Cabrera's Hutia * Eared Hutia...
          
          , Mysateles
          Mysateles
          Mysateles is a genus of rodent in the Capromyidae family.It contains the following species:* Chapman's Prehensile-tailed Hutia * Black-tailed Hutia...
          
          
        • Subfamily Hexolobodontinae: Hexolobodon
        • Subfamily Isolobodontinae: Isolobodon
          Isolobodon
          Isolobodon is an extinct genus of rodent in the family Capromyidae.It contains the following species:* Montane Hutia * Puerto Rican Hutia...
          
          , Zazamys
        • Subfamily Plagiodontiinae: Plagiodontia
          Plagiodontia
          Plagiodontia is a genus of rodent in the Capromyidae family. The name Plagiodontia means "oblique tooth" in Greek.This genus contains the following four species :*† Samana Hutia Johnson, 1948...
          
          , Rhizoplagiodontia
      • Giant hutia
        Giant hutia
        The giant hutias are an extinct group of large rodents known from fossil and subfossil material in the West Indies. One species, Amblyrhiza inundata, is estimated to have weighed between , big specimens being as large as an American Black Bear...
        
        s (informal group, likely not monophyletic
        Monophyly
        In common cladistic usage, a monophyletic group is a taxon which forms a clade, meaning that it contains all the descendants of the possibly hypothetical closest common ancestor of the members of the group. The term is synonymous with the uncommon term holophyly...
        
        )
        • Subfamily Clidomyinae: Clidomys
        • Subfamily Heptaxodontinae: Amblyrhiza, Elasmodontomys
        • Not assigned to subfamily: Quemisia, Tainotherium, Xaymaca
      • Family Echimyidae (spiny rats)
        • Subfamily Heteropsomyinae: Boromys
          Boromys
          Boromys is an extinct genus of Cuban rodents in the Echimyidae family.It contains the following species:* Oriente Cave Rat * Torre's Cave Rat...
          
          , Brotomys
          Brotomys
          Brotomys is an extinct genus of rodent in the Echimyidae family.It contains the following species:* Haitian Edible Rat * Hispaniolan Edible Rat...
          
          , Heteropsomys, Puertoricomys
        • Subfamily Echimyinae: Makalata
          Makalata
          Makalata is a genus of rodents in the family Echimyidae.It contains the following species:* Brazilian Spiny Tree Rat * Long-tailed Armored Tree-rat * Dusky Spiny Tree Rat...
          
          , Pattonomys
          Pattonomys
          Pattonomys is a genus of rodent in the Echimyidae family.It contains the following species:* Bare-tailed Armored Tree-rat * Speckled Spiny Tree-rat...
          
          , Proechimys
          Proechimys
          Proechimys is a genus of South American spiny rats of the family Echimyidae....
          
          
        • Subfamily Eumysopinae: Proechimys
          Proechimys
          Proechimys is a genus of South American spiny rats of the family Echimyidae....
          
          
      • Family Dasyproctidae
        Dasyproctidae
        Dasyproctidae is a family of large South American rodents, comprising the agoutis and acouchis. Their fur is a reddish or dark colour above, with a paler underside. They are herbivorous, often feeding on ripe fruit that falls from trees...
        
        : Dasyprocta (agoutis; partly introduced)
      • Family Cuniculidae (pacas): Cuniculus
        Paca
        The Lowland Paca , also known as the Spotted Paca, is a large rodent found in tropical and sub-tropical America, from East-Central Mexico to Northern Argentina...
        
        (partly introduced)
      • Family Caviidae
        Caviidae
        The cavy family is a family of rodents native to South America, and including the domestic guinea pig, wild cavies, and the capybara, among other animals...
        
        
        • Subfamily Caviinae
          Caviinae
          Caviinae is a subfamily uniting all living members of the family Caviidae with the exception of the maras, capybaras and Kerodon. The subfamily traditionally contained the guinea pig-like forms along with the cursorially adapted Kerodon...
          
           (cavies): Cavia
          Cavia
          Cavia is a genus in the subfamily Caviinae that contains the rodents commonly known as guinea pigs. The best-known species in this genus is the domestic guinea pig, Cavia porcellus, an important meat animal in South America and a common household pet in the West.-Taxonomic controversy:Cavia are...
          
          (introduced)
        • Subfamily Hydrochoerinae
          Hydrochoerinae
          Hydrochoerinae is a subfamily of Caviidae, consisting of two living genera, Hydrochoerus, the capybaras, and Kerodon, the rock cavies. In addition, a number of extinct genera related to capybaras should also be placed in this subfamily...
          
           (capybaras): Hydrochoerus
          Hydrochoerus
          The genus Hydrochoerus contains two living species of capybaras from South America and Panama, the largest living rodents in the world. The genus name is derived from the Greek ὕδωρ plus χοίρος ....
          
          
      • Family Erethizontidae (New World porcupines): Coendou
  • Suborder Sciuromorpha
    Sciuromorpha
    The term Sciuromorpha has referred to numerous groups of rodents, but the only family common to all variations is the Sciuridae, the squirrels. Most definitions also include the Mountain Beaver....
    
    
    • Family Sciuridae (squirrels)
      • Subfamily Sciurinae
        Sciurinae
        The Sciurinae is a subfamily of squirrels in the . It unites the flying squirrels with certain related tree squirrels. Older sources place the flying squirrels in a separate subfamily and unite all remaining sciurids into the subfamily Sciurinae, but this has been strongly refuted by genetic...
        
        : Sciurus
        Sciurus
        The genus Sciurus contains most of the common, bushy-tailed squirrels in North America, Europe, temperate Asia, Central America and South America.-Species:There are 30 species.Genus Sciurus - Tree squirrels*Subgenus Sciurus...
        
        
  • Suborder Castorimorpha
    Castorimorpha
    Castorimorpha is the suborder of rodents containing the beavers, the pocket gophers, and the kangaroo rats and mice.-Taxonomy:*Suborder Castorimorpha**Superfamily Castoroidea***Family †Eutypomyidae***Family Castoridae - beavers...
    
    
    • Superfamily Geomyioidea
      • Family Geomyidae (pocket gophers): Orthogeomys
        Orthogeomys
        Orthogeomys is a genus of rodent in the Geomyidae family, found in Mexico, Central America and Colombia.It contains the following species:* Chiriqui Pocket Gopher * Cherrie's Pocket Gopher...
        
        
      • Family Heteromyidae
        Heteromyidae
        The family of rodents that include kangaroo rats, kangaroo mice and rock pocket mice is the Heteromyidae family. Most heteromyids live in complex burrows within the deserts and grasslands of western North America, though species within the Heteromys and Liomys genera are also found in forests and...
        
         (heteromyids): Heteromys
        Heteromys
        Heteromys is a genus of rodent in the family Heteromyidae.It contains the following species:* Trinidad Spiny Pocket Mouse * Southern Spiny Pocket Mouse...
        
        
  • Suborder Myomorpha
    Myomorpha
    Suborder Myomorpha contains 1,137 species of mouse-like rodents, nearly a quarter of all mammal species. Included are mice, rats, gerbils, hamsters, lemmings and voles. They are grouped according to the structure of the jaw and the structure of the molar teeth. Both their medial and lateral...
    
    
    • Superfamily Muroidea
      Muroidea
      Muroidea is a large superfamily of rodents. It includes hamsters, gerbils, true mice and rats, and many other relatives. They occupy a vast variety of habitats on every continent except Antarctica. Some authorities have placed all members of this group into a single family, Muridae, due to...
      
       (muroids)
      • Family Muridae
        Muridae
        Muridae is the largest family of mammals. It contains over 600 species found naturally throughout Eurasia, Africa, and Australia. They have been introduced worldwide. The group includes true mice and rats, gerbils, and relatives....
        
        
        • Subfamily Murinae
          Murinae
          The Old World rats and mice, part of the subfamily Murinae in the family Muridae, comprise at least 519 species. This subfamily is larger than all mammal families except the Cricetidae and Muridae, and is larger than all mammal orders except the bats and the remainder of the...
          
           (Old World rats and mice, murines): Mus, Rattus (both introduced)
      • Family Nesomyidae
        Nesomyidae
        Nesomyidae is a family of African rodents in the large and complex superfamily Muroidea. It includes several subfamilies, all of which are native to either continental Africa or to Madagascar...
        
        
        • Subfamily Cricetomyinae: Cricetomys (introduced)
      • Family Cricetidae
        Cricetidae
        The Cricetidae are a family of rodents in the large and complex superfamily Muroidea. It includes true hamsters, voles, lemmings, and New World rats and mice...
        
        
        • Subfamily Neotominae
          Neotominae
          Neotominae is a subfamily of the family Cricetidae. It consists of four tribes, 16 genera, and many species of New World rats and mice, predominantly found in North America. Among them are the well-known deer mice, white-footed mice, packrats, and grasshopper mice.Neotomines are related to the...
          
          
          • Tribe Neotomini: Neotoma (woodrats)
          • Tribe Reithrodontomyini: Peromyscus
            Peromyscus
            The genus Peromyscus contains the animal species commonly referred to as deer mice. This is a genus of New World mouse only distantly related to the common house mouse and laboratory mouse, Mus musculus...
            
            (deermice), Reithrodontomys
            Reithrodontomys
            Reithrodontomys is the genus of groove-toothed New World harvest mice.-Species:This genus contains twenty species:*Guerrero Harvest Mouse *Short-Nosed Harvest Mouse...
            
            (harvest mice)
        • Subfamily Sigmodontinae
          Sigmodontinae
          The subfamily Sigmodontinae is one of the most diverse groups of mammals. It includes New World rats and mice, with at least 376 species. Many authorities include the Neotominae and Tylomyinae as part of a larger definition of Sigmodontinae. When those genera are included, the species count...
          
           (sigmodontines)
          • Tribe Akodontini
            Akodontini
            Akodontini is the second most speciose tribe of the subfamily Sigmodontinae. It includes at least 106 living species in 19 genera and is distributed mainly in the southern half of South America, with only two genera extending into Guyana and Venezuela . It also includes genera previously placed in...
            
             (akodontines): Necromys
            Necromys
            Necromys is a genus of South American sigmodontine rodents allied to Akodon. This genus has also been known as Cabreramys or more recently Bolomys. N. urichi has recently been transferred from Akodon....
            
            
          • Tribe Oryzomyini
            Oryzomyini
            Oryzomyini is a tribe of rodents in the subfamily Sigmodontinae of family Cricetidae. It includes about 120 species in about thirty genera, distributed from the eastern United States to the southernmost parts of South America, including many offshore islands...
            
             (rice rats, oryzomyines): Agathaeromys
            Agathaeromys
            Agathaeromys is an extinct genus of oryzomyine rodents from the Pleistocene of Bonaire, West Indies. Two species are known, which differ in size and some details of tooth morphology. The larger A. donovani, the type species, is known from hundreds of teeth, found in four localities that are...
            
            , Hylaeamys
            Hylaeamys
            Hylaeamys is a genus of South American oryzomyine rodents found principally in humid forested areas east of the Andes. The species in this genus have historically been placed in Oryzomys. They are most closely related to Euryoryzomys, Transandinomys, Nephelomys, Oecomys, and Handleyomys, and most...
            
            , Megalomys
            Megalomys
            Megalomys is a genus of rodent in the family Cricetidae, part of the tribe Oryzomyini. The genus contains four large rodents from various Caribbean islands, all of which are now extinct. The last species to survive was M...
            
            , Nectomys
            Nectomys
            Nectomys is a genus of rodent in the tribe Oryzomyini of family Cricetidae. It is closely related to Amphinectomys and was formerly considered congeneric with Sigmodontomys...
            
            , Oecomys
            Oecomys
            Oecomys is a genus of rodent within the tribe Oryzomyini of family Cricetidae. It contains about 17 species, which live in trees and are distributed across forested parts of South America, extending into Panama and Trinidad.-Literature cited:...
            
            , Oligoryzomys
            Oligoryzomys
            Oligoryzomys is a genus of rodents in the tribe Oryzomyini of family Cricetidae. Many species are known as pygmy rice rats or colilargos...
            
            , Oryzomys
            Oryzomys
            Oryzomys is a genus of semiaquatic rodents in the tribe Oryzomyini living in southern North America and far northern South America. It includes eight species, two of which—the marsh rice rat of the United States and O. couesi of Mexico and Central America—are widespread; the six others have...
            
            , Pennatomys
            Pennatomys
            Pennatomys nivalis is an extinct oryzomyine rodent from the islands of Sint Eustatius, Saint Kitts, and Nevis in the Lesser Antilles. The only species in the genus Pennatomys, it is known from skeletal remains found in Amerindian archeological sites on all three islands, with dates ranging from...
            
            , Zygodontomys
            Zygodontomys
            Zygodontomys is a genus of rodent in the tribe Oryzomyini of the family Cricetidae. Its closest relative may be Scolomys. It ranges from Central America east to the Guianas. It contains two species: Zygodontomys brunneus and Zygodontomys brevicauda....
            
            , various unidentified genera
          • Tribe Phyllotini (phyllotines): Calomys
          • Tribe Sigmodontini (cotton rats): Sigmodon
          • Tribe Thomasomyini (thomasomyines): Rhipidomys
            Rhipidomys
            Rhipidomys is a genus of rodents in the family Cricetidae, comprising at least 18 species of climbing mouse:* Southern Climbing Mouse * Cariri Climbing Mouse...
            
            

Greater Antilles

The four islands of the Greater Antilles

Greater Antilles

The Greater Antilles are one of three island groups in the Caribbean. Comprising Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola , and Puerto Rico, the Greater Antilles constitute almost 90% of the land mass of the entire West Indies.-Greater Antilles in context :The islands of the Caribbean Sea, collectively known as...

, Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico, are home to a diverse indigenous hystricognath fauna. Jamaica also harbors an indigenous oryzomyine and various introduced rodents now occur on all islands.

Cuba

Cuba

Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

, the largest of the Antilles, and its surrounding islands, of which the Isla de la Juventud is the most significant, harbor a diverse hutia

Hutia

Hutias are moderately large cavy-like rodents of the family Capromyidae that inhabit the Caribbean Islands. They range in size from , and can weigh up to . Twenty species of hutia have been identified, and half may be extinct. They resemble the nutria in some respects...

 fauna, including many species with very limited distributions. Various other hutias and an endemic genus of heteropsomyine went extinct during the Quaternary

Quaternary

The Quaternary Period is the most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the ICS. It follows the Neogene Period, spanning 2.588 ± 0.005 million years ago to the present...

 and the oldest known hutia, Zazamys, has been found in Miocene

Miocene

The Miocene is a geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about . The Miocene was named by Sir Charles Lyell. Its name comes from the Greek words and and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern sea invertebrates than the Pliocene. The Miocene follows the Oligocene...

 Cuban deposits.

• Boromys offella, an extinct spiny rat known from both the main island and the Isla de la Juventud.
• Boromys torrei, another extinct spiny rat from both Cuba and the Isla de la Juventud.
• Capromys acevado, an extinct hutia, sometimes placed in a separate genus Macrocapromys.
• Capromys antiquus, an extinct hutia.
• Capromys arrendondoi, an extinct hutia.
• Capromys gundlachianus
  Capromys gundlachianus
  Capromys gundlachianus is a species of mammal....
  
  , a species related to the widespread C. pilorides (and formerly included within it) that is limited to parts of the Sabana-Camagüey Archipelago
  Sabana-Camaguey Archipelago
  Sabana-Camagüey is an archipelago that lines Cuba's north-central Atlantic coast. It is located off the northern coast of the provinces of Matanzas, Villa Clara, Sancti Spíritus, Ciego de Ávila and Camagüey, and is bounded to the north by the Atlantic Ocean, specifically by the Nicholas Channel ...
  
   off northern Cuba.
• Capromys latus, an extinct hutia.
• Capromys pappus, an extinct hutia known from Isla de la Juventud.
• Capromys pilorides, the most common hutia, widespread on Cuba and many nearby islands, including Isla de la Juventud. The previously recognized Geocapromys megas is a synonym of this species.
• Capromys robustus, an extinct hutia.
• Cuniculus paca, a large hystricognath indigenous to Central and South America, including Trinidad and Tobago and introduced to Cuba.
• Dasyprocta mexicana, an agouti from Mexico
  Mexico
  The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
  
   that has been introduced to Cuba.
• Dasyprocta punctata, a Central and South American agouti introduced to both the Cayman Islands and Cuba.
• Geocapromys brownii, a hutia indigenous to Jamaica. It was found in an Amerindian archeological site, probably indicating transport by humans.
• Geocapromys columbianus, an extinct hutia related to extant Bahaman and Jamaican Geocapromys
  Geocapromys
  Geocapromys is a genus of rodent, comprising two extant species of hutia. The Bahamian Hutia or Ingraham's Hutia is native to the Bahamas, while the Jamaican Hutia , which is also known as the Jamaican Coney or Brown's Hutia, is endemic to Jamaica.The Little Swan Island Hutia Geocapromys is a...
  
  that persisted until after the first European contact. It was found on both Cuba and Isla de la Juventud.
• Geocapromys pleistocenicus, an extinct species of Cuba known from Cuba and Isla de la Juventud.
• Mesocapromys angelcabrerai, a small hutia from Cayos de Ana Maria, Ciego de Ávila Province
  Ciego de Ávila Province
  Ciego de Ávila is one of the provinces of Cuba, and was previously part of Camagüey Province. Its capital is Ciego de Ávila, which lies on the Carretera Central , and the second city is Morón, further north....
  
  , and possibly the nearby mainland.
• Mesocapromys auritus, a hutia from Cayo Fragoso
  Cayo Fragoso
  Cayo Fragoso is an island in the Caribbean country of Cuba, has a total area of 101 square kilometers belongs to the Sabana-Camaguey archipelago, and administratively belongs to the province of Villa Clara.- References :...
  
   in the Sabana-Camagüey Archipelago.
• Mesocapromys barbouri, an extinct hutia.
• Mesocapromys beatrizae, an extinct hutia.
• Mesocapromys delicatus, an extinct hutia.
• Mesocapromys gracilis, an extinct hutia.
• Mesocapromys kraglievichi, an extinct hutia.
• Mesocapromys melanurus, a hutia from eastern mainland Cuba which was formerly placed in Mysateles
  Mysateles
  Mysateles is a genus of rodent in the Capromyidae family.It contains the following species:* Chapman's Prehensile-tailed Hutia * Black-tailed Hutia...
  
  .
• Mesocapromys minimus, an extinct hutia.
• Mesocapromys nanus, a small hutia from the Zapata Swamp
  Zapata Swamp
  Zapata Swamp is located on the Zapata Peninsula in the southern Matanzas province of Cuba. It is located less than southeast of Havana.-Species and preservation:...
  
   in Matanzas Province
  Matanzas Province
  Matanzas is one of the provinces of Cuba. Major towns in the province include Cárdenas, Colón, Jovellanos and the capital of the same name, Matanzas...
  
   on mainland Cuba.
• Mesocapromys sanfelipensis, a hutia from Cayo Juan Garcia in Pinar del Río Province
  Pinar del Río Province
  Pinar del Río is one of the provinces of Cuba. It is at the western end of the island of Cuba.-Geography:The Pinar del Río province is Cuba's westernmost province and contains one of Cuba's three main mountain ranges, the Cordillera de Guaniguanico, divided into the easterly Sierra del Rosario and...
  
  .
• Mesocapromys silvai, an extinct hutia.
• Mysateles jaumei, an extinct hutia.
• Mysateles garridoi, a hutia known only from a small island close to Cayo Largo del Sur
  Cayo Largo del Sur
  Cayo Largo del Sur, also known simply as Cayo Largo, cayo largo means largo island, is a small resort island belonging to Cuba, in the Caribbean Sea no more than long and wide...
  
   in the Canarreos Archipelago
  Canarreos Archipelago
  Canarreos Archipelago is an archipelago of Cuba.It is located south of the main island of Cuba, in the Caribbean Sea, at . It is bordered to the east by the Gulf of Cazones, to the north by the Gulf of Batabano and to the west by the Los Indios Channel....
  
   off southwestern Cuba.
• Mysateles meridionalis, a hutia from the southwestern part of the Isla de la Juventud.
• Mysateles prehensilis, a hutia from western mainland Cuba.
• Zazamys veronicae, the earliest known hutia. It is known from a few teeth found at the early Miocene
  Miocene
  The Miocene is a geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about . The Miocene was named by Sir Charles Lyell. Its name comes from the Greek words and and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern sea invertebrates than the Pliocene. The Miocene follows the Oligocene...
  
   locality of Domo de Zaza in a fauna that also includes the monkey Paralouatta marianae and the sloth Imagocnus zazae. Unlike all later Cuban hutias, it belongs to the subfamily Isolobodontinae.

Jamaica

The rodent fauna of Jamaica

Jamaica

Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...

 is relatively poor at the species level, including only five indigenous species, but diverse at higher taxonomic levels, including the only oryzomyine of the Greater Antilles and several distantly related hystricognaths.

• Clidomys osborni, an extinct giant hutia from Jamaica. Numerous morphological variants have been described under separate names, but these are now all recognized as synonyms.
• Geocapromys brownii, a hutia known only from the island.
• A femur
  Femur
  The femur , or thigh bone, is the most proximal bone of the leg in tetrapod vertebrates capable of walking or jumping, such as most land mammals, birds, many reptiles such as lizards, and amphibians such as frogs. In vertebrates with four legs such as dogs and horses, the femur is found only in...
  
   of a large rodent, somewhat similar to that of Amblyrhiza, provides evidence for the possible occurrence of a large hystricognath, perhaps a heptaxodontine, on Jamaica.
• Oryzomys antillarum, a medium-sized oryzomyine closely related to extant Central American Oryzomys
  Oryzomys
  Oryzomys is a genus of semiaquatic rodents in the tribe Oryzomyini living in southern North America and far northern South America. It includes eight species, two of which—the marsh rice rat of the United States and O. couesi of Mexico and Central America—are widespread; the six others have...
  
  which probably went extinct around 1880. Its taxonomic status as either a subspecies of the mainland species Oryzomys couesi or Oryzomys palustris or as a separate species has been disputed, but it is now recognized as a separate species. It is also found in late Pleistocene deposits.
• Xaymaca fulvopulvis, a small hystricognath that may be most closely related to the giant hutia
  Giant hutia
  The giant hutias are an extinct group of large rodents known from fossil and subfossil material in the West Indies. One species, Amblyrhiza inundata, is estimated to have weighed between , big specimens being as large as an American Black Bear...
  
  s of Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, and the Leeward Islands.

Hispaniola

Hispaniola

Hispaniola

Hispaniola is a major island in the Caribbean, containing the two sovereign states of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The island is located between the islands of Cuba to the west and Puerto Rico to the east, within the hurricane belt...

, the second largest of the Antilles, is politically divided into Haiti

Haiti

Haiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Caribbean country. It occupies the western, smaller portion of the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago, which it shares with the Dominican Republic. Ayiti was the indigenous Taíno or Amerindian name for the island...

 and the Dominican Republic

Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic is a nation on the island of La Hispaniola, part of the Greater Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean region. The western third of the island is occupied by the nation of Haiti, making Hispaniola one of two Caribbean islands that are shared by two countries...

. Various hutias and other hystricognaths are known from both the main island and several surrounding islands, including Gonâve Island

Gonâve Island

Gonâve Island is an island of Haiti located to the west-northwest of Port-au-Prince in the Gulf of Gonâve. It is the largest of the Hispaniolan satellite islands, situated off the mainland...

.

• Brotomys contractus, an extinct spiny rat from mainland Hispaniola.
• Brotomys voratus, a spiny rat from both mainland Hispaniola and Gonâve. Like B. contractus, it is now extinct, but it survived into the mid-20th century.
• Capromys pilorides, the common hutia of Cuba. It has been recorded from an archeological site on the islet of San Gabriel in Samana Bay
  Samana Bay
  Samaná Bay is a bay in the eastern Dominican Republic. The Yuna River flows into the Samaná Bay, and it is located south of the town and peninsula of Samaná....
  
  , Dominican Republic, where it was most likely introduced by Amerindians.
• Hexolobodon phenax, a hutia classified in its own subfamily that is now extinct. It occurred on both Hispaniola itself and Gonâve and includes H. poolei as a junior synonym.
• Isolobodon montanus, a hutia known from both Hispaniola and Gonâve that is now also extinct. It was formerly placed in its own genus, Aphaetreus.
• Isolobodon portoricensis, a hutia known from both mainland Hispaniola and several offshore islands. It was introduced to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, but may now be extinct; it could still survive in remote areas of Hispaniola or on the nearby island of Tortuga.
• Plagiodontia aedium, a hutia known from Hispaniola and Gonâve. It includes P. hylaeum, formerly a separate species, as a subspecies.
• Plagiodontia araeum, a large extinct hutia from mainland Hispaniola. Hyperplagiodontia stenocoronalis, described in a separate genus, is the same species.
• Plagiodontia ipnaeum, another large mainland Hispaniolan hutia that is now extinct.
• Quemisia gravis, an extinct giant hutia known only from the main island.
• Rhizoplagiodontia lemkei, an extinct hutia related to Plagiodontia
  Plagiodontia
  Plagiodontia is a genus of rodent in the Capromyidae family. The name Plagiodontia means "oblique tooth" in Greek.This genus contains the following four species :*† Samana Hutia Johnson, 1948...
  
  , but classified in its own genus, that occurred in the Massif de la Hotte
  Massif de la Hotte
  The Massif de la Hotte is a mountain range in southwestern Haiti, on the far-western end of the Tiburon Peninsula. The region is relatively remote and is one of the most biologically diverse and significant areas of all of Hispaniola. It also supports some of the last stands of Haiti's dense cloud...
  
   of southwestern Haiti.

Puerto Rico

Several hystricognaths are known from Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...

, the easternmost of the Greater Antilles, which is under United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 sovereignty. Hutias are notably absent from the indigenous fauna, but giant hutias and heteropsomyines are present.

• Elasmodontomys obliquus, a giant hutia native to the island that is now extinct.
• Heteropsomys antillensis, an extinct spiny rat from Puerto Rico only.
• Heteropsomys insulans, an extinct spiny rat known only from cave deposits on Puerto Rico.
• Isolobodon portoricensis, a hutia native to Hispaniola and introduced to Puerto Rico and nearby Mona Island that was first described from Puerto Rico. It may now be extinct.
• Puertoricomys corozalus, a spiny rat known from a single mandible from a possibly Pliocene deposit on Puerto Rico. It is notably more primitive than other heteropsomyines.
• Tainotherium valei, a giant hutia known from a single femur
  Femur
  The femur , or thigh bone, is the most proximal bone of the leg in tetrapod vertebrates capable of walking or jumping, such as most land mammals, birds, many reptiles such as lizards, and amphibians such as frogs. In vertebrates with four legs such as dogs and horses, the femur is found only in...
  
   from a Quaternary deposit. Its systematic position is unclear.

Leeward Islands

The Leeward Islands

Leeward Islands

The Leeward Islands are a group of islands in the West Indies. They are the northern islands of the Lesser Antilles chain. As a group they start east of Puerto Rico and reach southward to Dominica. They are situated where the northeastern Caribbean Sea meets the western Atlantic Ocean...

, the northern segment of the Lesser Antilles

Lesser Antilles

The Lesser Antilles are a long, partly volcanic island arc in the Western Hemisphere. Most of its islands form the eastern boundary of the Caribbean Sea with the Atlantic Ocean, with the remainder located in the southern Caribbean just north of South America...

, have various indigenous oryzomyines and a single indigenous hystricognath in addition to a series of introduced rodents.

U.S. Virgin Islands

The United States Virgin Islands

United States Virgin Islands

The Virgin Islands of the United States are a group of islands in the Caribbean that are an insular area of the United States. The islands are geographically part of the Virgin Islands archipelago and are located in the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles.The U.S...

 are a group of islands east of Puerto Rico, centered around the three main islands of Saint Thomas

Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands

Saint Thomas is an island in the Caribbean Sea and with the islands of Saint John, Saint Croix, and Water Island a county and constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands , an unincorporated territory of the United States. Located on the island is the territorial capital and port of...

, Saint John

Saint John, U.S. Virgin Islands

Saint John is an island in the Caribbean Sea and a constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands , an unincorporated territory of the United States. St...

 and Saint Croix. No native rodents are known, but several species have been introduced.

• Dasyprocta leporina, a South American agouti introduced over much of the Lesser Antilles. The Virgin Islands population derives from a Brazil
  Brazil
  Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
  
  ian form of D. leporina.
• Isolobodon portoricensis, a Hispaniolan hutia introduced on Saint Thomas and Saint Croix by Amerindians, but now extinct there.

Anguilla

Anguilla

Anguilla

Anguilla is a British overseas territory and overseas territory of the European Union in the Caribbean. It is one of the most northerly of the Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antilles, lying east of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and directly north of Saint Martin...

 is a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 island with some native rodents, including the giant Amblyrhiza.

• Amblyrhiza inundata, an extremely large giant hutia also known from nearby Saint Martin. It is known from Quaternary fossils but may not have survived until its first contact with humans.
• Both Mus musculus and Rattus have been recorded from archeological sites.
• An oryzomyine, similar in size to "Undescribed species A" from Montserrat, has been recorded from several Amerindian archeological sites on Anguilla.

Saint Martin

The island of Saint Martin

Saint Martin

Saint Martin is an island in the northeast Caribbean, approximately east of Puerto Rico. The 87 km2 island is divided roughly 60/40 between France and the Kingdom of the Netherlands ; however, the Dutch side has the larger population. It is one of the smallest sea islands divided between...

 is divided into a French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 and a Dutch

Kingdom of the Netherlands

The Kingdom of the Netherlands is a sovereign state and constitutional monarchy with territory in Western Europe and in the Caribbean. The four parts of the Kingdom—Aruba, Curaçao, the Netherlands, and Sint Maarten—are referred to as "countries", and participate on a basis of equality...

 part. Its rodent fauna is similar to that of nearby Anguilla.

• Amblyrhiza inundata, a giant hutia also known from Anguilla (see there).
• An oryzomyine has been recorded at an Amerindian site at Hope Estate on the French side of the island which dates from about 500 BCE.

Sint Eustatius

Sint Eustatius is a small island near Saint Kitts that is part of the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

.

• Dasyprocta leporina, an introduced agouti. It has been recorded only from an archeological site.
• Pennatomys nivalis, an extinct oryzomyine, is known from archeological sites.

Saint Kitts

Saint Kitts

Saint Kitts

Saint Kitts Saint Kitts Saint Kitts (also known more formally as Saint Christopher Island (Saint-Christophe in French) is an island in the West Indies. The west side of the island borders the Caribbean Sea, and the eastern coast faces the Atlantic Ocean...

 forms the nation of Saint Kitts and Nevis

Saint Kitts and Nevis

The Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis , located in the Leeward Islands, is a federal two-island nation in the West Indies. It is the smallest sovereign state in the Americas, in both area and population....

 together with nearby Nevis.

• Dasyprocta leporina, an introduced northern South American agouti. The subspecies on Saint Kitts is D. l. noblei. This agouti has also been round in an archeological site.
• Pennatomys nivalis, an extinct oryzomyine, is known from archeological sites.

Nevis

Nevis

Nevis

Nevis is an island in the Caribbean Sea, located near the northern end of the Lesser Antilles archipelago, about 350 km east-southeast of Puerto Rico and 80 km west of Antigua. The 93 km² island is part of the inner arc of the Leeward Islands chain of the West Indies...

 is the second main island of Saint Kitts and Nevis

Saint Kitts and Nevis

The Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis , located in the Leeward Islands, is a federal two-island nation in the West Indies. It is the smallest sovereign state in the Americas, in both area and population....

. Its rodents are known from archeological finds only.

• Dasyprocta leporina, a northern South American agouti. It was recorded on the basis of remains from several archeological sites ranging in age from 100 BCE to 1200 CE.
• Pennatomys nivalis, an extinct oryzomyine, is known from archeological sites. Ages for these sites range from 790 BCE to 1200 CE.

Antigua

Antigua

Antigua

Antigua , also known as Waladli, is an island in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region, the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua means "ancient" in Spanish and was named by Christopher Columbus after an icon in Seville Cathedral, Santa Maria de la...

, which together with Barbuda forms Antigua and Barbuda

Antigua and Barbuda

Antigua and Barbuda is a twin-island nation lying between the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It consists of two major inhabited islands, Antigua and Barbuda, and a number of smaller islands...

, was home to a giant oryzomyine which has been described from a site named Mill Reef under the invalid name "Oryzomys hypenemus

Oryzomys hypenemus

"Ekbletomys hypenemus" is an extinct oryzomyine rodent from the islands of Antigua and Barbuda, Lesser Antilles. It was described as the only species of the subgenus "Ekbletomys" of genus Oryzomys in a 1962 Ph.D. thesis, but that name is not available under the International Code of Zoological...

". Subsequently, rice rats were also reported from two other Antigua sites, Burma Quarry and Indian Creek; although not explicitly equated with "O. hypenemus", the oryzomyines from the two new sites and Mill Reef were reported under the same species. A more detailed study on the remains from Burma Quarry, an Amerindian site which is about 4500 to 2500 years old, reported the presence of a large rice rat, known as "Undescribed species B", which also occurred on nearby Barbuda, Montserrat, Guadeloupe, and Marie Galante. The femora

Femur

The femur , or thigh bone, is the most proximal bone of the leg in tetrapod vertebrates capable of walking or jumping, such as most land mammals, birds, many reptiles such as lizards, and amphibians such as frogs. In vertebrates with four legs such as dogs and horses, the femur is found only in...

 from this site fell into three different size classes, however, suggesting the presence of more than one species of oryzomyine. At another archeological site, Indian Creek, dated at 1 to 600 CE, a large oryzomyine was found. Its weight was estimated at 408 g on the basis of an average femur depth of 4.8 mm. An unidentified Rattus, the agouti Dasyprocta leporina, and the guinea pig

Guinea pig

The guinea pig , also called the cavy, is a species of rodent belonging to the family Caviidae and the genus Cavia. Despite their common name, these animals are not in the pig family, nor are they from Guinea...

 (Cavia porcellus), all of which were introduced to the island by humans, have also been found in archeological sites.

Barbuda

Barbuda

Barbuda

Barbuda is an island in the Eastern Caribbean, and forms part of the state of Antigua and Barbuda. It has a population of about 1,500, most of whom live in the town of Codrington.-Location:...

 is the other main island of Antigua and Barbuda. In addition to "Oryzomys hypenemus

Oryzomys hypenemus

"Ekbletomys hypenemus" is an extinct oryzomyine rodent from the islands of Antigua and Barbuda, Lesser Antilles. It was described as the only species of the subgenus "Ekbletomys" of genus Oryzomys in a 1962 Ph.D. thesis, but that name is not available under the International Code of Zoological...

", another, smaller oryzomyine has also been recorded, Megalomys audreyae

Megalomys audreyae

Megalomys audreyae, known as the Barbudan Muskrat or the Barbuda giant rice-rat, is an extinct oryzomyine rodent from Barbuda in the Lesser Antilles. Described on the basis of a single mandible with the first molar missing and an isolated upper incisor, both of uncertain but Quaternary age, it is...

, though on the basis of very limited material. It has been suggested that this species is from Barbados instead. A later study reported "Undescribed species B", which was apparently widespread in the region, from archeological sites on Barbuda (see under Antigua).

Montserrat

Montserrat

Montserrat

Montserrat is a British overseas territory located in the Leeward Islands, part of the chain of islands called the Lesser Antilles in the West Indies. This island measures approximately long and wide, giving of coastline...

 is a small British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 island which has hosted several rodents.

• Dasyprocta leporina, an introduced northern South American agouti. The subspecies on Montserrat is D. l. noblei. It is also known from archeological deposits.
• The Trant's and Radio Antilles Amerindian sites on Montserrat yielded possibly four different oryzomyines, each represented by limited and fragmentary material. A relatively small form, designated "Undescribed species A", is similar in size to oryzomyines from Saint Kitts and Anguilla, and a larger form is apparently identical to "Undescribed species B", described from Antigua and other islands. Two other possible species, one larger than the second and the other smaller than the first species, are documented by even more fragmentary material. Some of these may have been introduced by the Amerindians.

Guadeloupe

The double island of Guadeloupe

Guadeloupe

Guadeloupe is an archipelago located in the Leeward Islands, in the Lesser Antilles, with a land area of 1,628 square kilometres and a population of 400,000. It is the first overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. As with the other overseas departments, Guadeloupe...

, which consists of two parts separated only by a narrow channel, is the core of the French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 overseas department of Guadeloupe. Several rodents are known.

• Dasyprocta leporina, an introduced northern South American agouti. The subspecies on Guadeloupe is D. l. noblei. It has also been recorded from archeological deposits.
• A large oryzomyine, designated as "Undescribed species B" (see also Antigua) is known from several archeological sites on Guadeloupe.
• An unidentified Rattus has been recorded from an archeological deposit on Guadeloupe.

Marie Galante

Marie Galante is a smaller island that politically belongs to nearby Guadeloupe.

• Dasyprocta leporina is known from an archeological deposit.
• A large oryzomyine, later designated as "Undescribed species B" (see under Antigua) has been described from an archeological site.

Dominica

Dominica

Dominica

Dominica , officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island nation in the Lesser Antilles region of the Caribbean Sea, south-southeast of Guadeloupe and northwest of Martinique. Its size is and the highest point in the country is Morne Diablotins, which has an elevation of . The Commonwealth...

, the southernmost of the Leeward Islands, is an independent state. Unlike in most nearby islands, no oryzomyines have been recorded, but several introduced rodents are known.

• Dasyprocta leporina, an introduced northern South American agouti. The subspecies on Dominica is D. l. noblei.

Windward Islands

The rodent fauna of the Windward Islands

Windward Islands

The Windward Islands are the southern islands of the Lesser Antilles, within the West Indies.-Name and geography:The Windward Islands are called such because they were more windward to sailing ships arriving in the New World than the Leeward Islands, given that the prevailing trade winds in the...

 is more diverse than that of the Leeward Islands, reflecting the islands' location closer to the South American mainland.

Martinique

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...

 is a French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 overseas department. In addition to a very large oryzomyine, some introduced hystricognaths are known.

• Dasyprocta leporina, an introduced northern South American agouti. The subspecies on Martinique is D. l. fulvus.
• Makalata didelphoides, a northern South American spiny rat also known from Trinidad and Tobago, has been recorded from Martinique, but the record is probably erroneous. In 1878, as museum curator, True received an animal captured on the island, but believed it to have been a single individual transported on a sailing vessel and not part of a local breeding population. This individual is represented by a single skin (NMNH 13039), but no cranial material.
• Megalomys desmarestii, a very large oryzomyine that went extinct by about 1900. It was closely related to Megalomys luciae, which occurred further south on Saint Lucia. It was as large as a 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...
  
  .

Saint Lucia

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...

 is an independent state. Its rodent fauna is similar to that of its northern neighbor, Martinique.

• Dasyprocta leporina, an introduced northern South American agouti. The subspecies on Saint Lucia is D. l. fulvus.
• Megalomys luciae, an oryzomyine slightly smaller than its Martinique congener, Megalomys desmarestii, that went extinct during the 19th century.

Saint Vincent and Grenadines

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is an island country in the Lesser Antilles chain, namely in the southern portion of the Windward Islands, which lie at the southern end of the eastern border of the Caribbean Sea where the latter meets the Atlantic Ocean....

 is an independent state, composed of the main island of Saint Vincent

Saint Vincent (island)

Saint Vincent is a volcanic island in the Caribbean. It is the largest island of the chain called Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. It is located in the Caribbean Sea, between Saint Lucia and Grenada. It is composed of partially submerged volcanic mountains...

 and the northern portion of the Grenadines

Grenadines

The Grenadines is a Caribbean island chain of over 600 islands in the Windward Islands.-Geographic boundaries:They are divided between the island nations of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Grenada. They lie between the islands of Saint Vincent in the north and Grenada in the south. Neither...

. A few rodents are known.

• Dasyprocta leporina, an introduced northern South American agouti on Saint Vincent. The subspecies on Saint Vincent is D. l. albida.
• Oligoryzomys victus, a small oryzomyine related to South American Oligoryzomys
  Oligoryzomys
  Oligoryzomys is a genus of rodents in the tribe Oryzomyini of family Cricetidae. Many species are known as pygmy rice rats or colilargos...
  
  . Known only from a single specimen captured on Saint Vincent around 1892, it is now presumed extinct.

Grenada

The island of Grenada

Grenada

Grenada is an island country and Commonwealth Realm consisting of the island of Grenada and six smaller islands at the southern end of the Grenadines in the southeastern Caribbean Sea...

, the southernmost of the main island chain of the Lesser Antilles, is part of an independent state that also comprises the southern Grenadines

Grenadines

The Grenadines is a Caribbean island chain of over 600 islands in the Windward Islands.-Geographic boundaries:They are divided between the island nations of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Grenada. They lie between the islands of Saint Vincent in the north and Grenada in the south. Neither...

, including Carriacou. In addition to some Recent rodents, a small Pliocene

Pliocene

The Pliocene Epoch is the period in the geologic timescale that extends from 5.332 million to 2.588 million years before present. It is the second and youngest epoch of the Neogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Pliocene follows the Miocene Epoch and is followed by the Pleistocene Epoch...

 fauna is known.

• An unidentified hutia (reported simply as "Capromyidae") is known from archeological deposits on Carriacou.
• Dasyprocta leporina, an introduced northern South American agouti. The subspecies on Grenada is D. l. albida. An unidentified agouti has been recorded from archeological deposits on Carriacou.
• Hydrochoerus gaylordi, an endemic capybara
  Capybara
  The capybara , also known as capivara in Portuguese, and capibara, chigüire in Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador ronsoco in Peru, chigüiro, and carpincho in Spanish, is the largest living rodent in the world. Its closest relatives are agouti, chinchillas, coyphillas, and guinea pigs...
  
   known from a few teeth of late Pliocene
  Pliocene
  The Pliocene Epoch is the period in the geologic timescale that extends from 5.332 million to 2.588 million years before present. It is the second and youngest epoch of the Neogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Pliocene follows the Miocene Epoch and is followed by the Pleistocene Epoch...
  
   age. The same fauna also contained some sloth
  Sloth
  Sloths are the six species of medium-sized mammals belonging to the families Megalonychidae and Bradypodidae , part of the order Pilosa and therefore related to armadillos and anteaters, which sport a similar set of specialized claws.They are arboreal residents of the jungles of Central and South...
  
   remains.
• Oryzomyines have been found in archeological deposits on Carriacou (reported as Oryzomys sp.) and Grenada itself, where two forms occur, which correspond in size to "Undescribed species A" and "B" recorded from Montserrat.

Barbados

Barbados

Barbados

Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...

 lies east of the main island chain of the Lesser Antilles. There are some anecdotal records of small indigenous mouse-like rodents, probably oryzomyines, from historic times and an oryzomyine ("Oryzomys new sp.") has been recorded in archeological deposits. It has been suggested that Megalomys audreyae

Megalomys audreyae

Megalomys audreyae, known as the Barbudan Muskrat or the Barbuda giant rice-rat, is an extinct oryzomyine rodent from Barbuda in the Lesser Antilles. Described on the basis of a single mandible with the first molar missing and an isolated upper incisor, both of uncertain but Quaternary age, it is...

, described from similarly named Barbuda, actually came from Barbados.

Trinidad and Tobago

Trinidad and Tobago

Trinidad and Tobago

Trinidad and Tobago officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles...

, two islands off northeastern Venezuela, form an independent country. Trinidad

Trinidad

Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...

 has a more diverse fauna than smaller and more remote Tobago

Tobago

Tobago is the smaller of the two main islands that make up the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is located in the southern Caribbean, northeast of the island of Trinidad and southeast of Grenada. The island lies outside the hurricane belt...

, but as Pleistocene land-bridge islands, both have faunas that are more diverse than those of most Caribbean islands. On the other hand, endemism is much more limited than on other islands, with only one definite endemic species known.

• Coendou prehensilis, a porcupine widespread on mainland South America that also occurs on Trinidad.
• Cuniculus paca, a large hystricognath widespread in Central and South America that also occurs on Trinidad.
• Dasyprocta leporina, an agouti from northern South America that occurs on Trinidad; it has also been introduced to much of the Lesser Antilles.
• Heteromys anomalus, a heteromyid that occurs on both Trinidad and Tobago and also in northern South America and on Isla Margarita.
• Hylaeamys megacephalus, an oryzomyine that reaches the northern limit of its distribution in Trinidad and northern Venezuela and that occurs south to Paraguay
  Paraguay
  Paraguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the...
  
  .
• Makalata didelphoides, a spiny rat from northern South America that is found on both main islands. See also Martinique.
• Megalomys
  Megalomys
  Megalomys is a genus of rodent in the family Cricetidae, part of the tribe Oryzomyini. The genus contains four large rodents from various Caribbean islands, all of which are now extinct. The last species to survive was M...
  
  , or an animal similar to it, was described from Tobago in two 17th-century accounts, but no evidence to confirm its occurrence there has ever been found and the records may have referred to agoutis instead or have been borrowed from accounts of Martinique Megalomys.
• Necromys urichi, an akodontine from both Trinidad and Tobago that also occurs in the highlands of Venezuela and adjacent countries. It was formerly placed in Akodon
  Akodon
  Akodon is a genus consisting of South American grass mice. They mostly occur south of the Amazon Basin and along the Andes north to Venezuela, but are absent from much of the basin itself, the far south of the continent, and the lowlands west of the Andes. Akodon is one of the most species-rich...
  
  .
• Nectomys palmipes, an oryzomyine from Trinidad and the nearby mainland.
• Oecomys speciosus, an oryzomyine from Trinidad and nearby Colombia and Venezuela.
• Oecomys trinitatis, an oryzomyine from both islands with a large distribution in northern South America and into Central America. The taxonomic status of many populations is in doubt, however.
• Oligoryzomys fulvescens, an oryzomyine widespread in Central and northern South America and also reported from Trinidad.
• Proechimys trinitatus, a spiny rat known only from Trinidad that is part of a group containing several northern South American Proechimys
  Proechimys
  Proechimys is a genus of South American spiny rats of the family Echimyidae....
  
  .
• Rhipidomys couesi, a thomasomyine from lowland forests from Colombia east to Trinidad.
• Rhipidomys venezuelae, a thomasomyine that is found on Trinidad and Tobago and in the mountains of northern Venezuela and nearby Colombia.
• Sciurus granatensis, a squirrel from both main islands, also known from northern South America and southern Central America, as well as from Isla Margarita.

• Zygodontomys brevicauda, an oryzomyine with a distribution that spans northern South America and southern Central America, and also Trinidad and Tobago. Pleistocene fossils are known from Aruba.
• Zygodontomys
  Zygodontomys
  Zygodontomys is a genus of rodent in the tribe Oryzomyini of the family Cricetidae. Its closest relative may be Scolomys. It ranges from Central America east to the Guianas. It contains two species: Zygodontomys brunneus and Zygodontomys brevicauda....
  
  sp., an extinct and undescribed oryzomyine from Trinidad. It was mentioned in a 1962 paper, but has received no attention since and no detailed information has been published.

ABC islands

The ABC islands are three islands off northwestern Venezuela

Venezuela

Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...

 that are part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands

Kingdom of the Netherlands

The Kingdom of the Netherlands is a sovereign state and constitutional monarchy with territory in Western Europe and in the Caribbean. The four parts of the Kingdom—Aruba, Curaçao, the Netherlands, and Sint Maarten—are referred to as "countries", and participate on a basis of equality...

. They have a diverse rodent fauna, including many oryzomyines and several others, notably including many from Pleistocene faunas.

Bonaire

Bonaire is the easternmost of the ABC islands. Two species of oryzomyines in a single genus, restricted to Bonaire, are known from Pleistocene fossil deposits, together with an indeterminate third species:

• Agathaeromys donovani is known from four sites that are probably 900 000 to 540 000 years old.
• Agathaeromys praeuniversitatis is known from a single site that is probably 540 000 to 230 000 years old.
• An indeterminate sigmodontine is known from a single edentulous mandible from one of the sites that also yielded A. donovani.

Curaçao

Curaçao

Curaçao

Curaçao is an island in the southern Caribbean Sea, off the Venezuelan coast. The Country of Curaçao , which includes the main island plus the small, uninhabited island of Klein Curaçao , is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands...

 is the largest of the ABC islands and it has received the most mammalogical attention. Its known rodent fauna includes several species, some with restricted distributions.

• Calomys hummelincki, a small phyllotine also known from nearby Aruba and the adjacent mainland. It has been suggested to have been introduced to the area, but this is no longer accepted.
• Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris, the capybara
  Capybara
  The capybara , also known as capivara in Portuguese, and capibara, chigüire in Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador ronsoco in Peru, chigüiro, and carpincho in Spanish, is the largest living rodent in the world. Its closest relatives are agouti, chinchillas, coyphillas, and guinea pigs...
  
  , which is widespread in South America. It is known from fragmentary remains from Tafelberg Santa Barbara on southeastern Curaçao, a site that may be of considerable antiquity.
• Megalomys curazensis
  Megalomys curazensis
  Megalomys curazensis is a species of rodent from the Pleistocene of the island of Curaçao, off northwestern Venezuela. It is a member of the genus Megalomys, which also includes species from other islands of the Lesser Antilles. It is known from abundant but fragmentary material found throughout...
  
  , a large oryzomyine from several Pleistocene sites that may also have occurred on Aruba.
• Oryzomys gorgasi
  Oryzomys gorgasi
  Oryzomys gorgasi, also known as Gorgas's Oryzomys or Gorgas's Rice Rat, is a rodent in the genus Oryzomys of family Cricetidae. First collected as a living animal in 1967, it is known from only a few localities, including a freshwater swamp in the lowlands of northwestern Colombia and a mangrove...
  
  , a rare oryzomyine also known from mainland Colombia and Venezuela that formerly occurred on Curaçao, but that is now extinct there. It was described as a separate species, Oryzomys curasoae, but it cannot be distinguished from mainland examples of O. gorgasi.
• Oryzomys
  Oryzomys
  Oryzomys is a genus of semiaquatic rodents in the tribe Oryzomyini living in southern North America and far northern South America. It includes eight species, two of which—the marsh rice rat of the United States and O. couesi of Mexico and Central America—are widespread; the six others have...
  
  sp. Several different oryzomyines from Curaçao have been recorded under this name from locations including Tafelberg Santa Barbara, Bullenbaai, Noordkant, and Duivelsklip. Some may be referable to O. curasoae (currently Oryzomys gorgasi).

Aruba

Aruba

Aruba

Aruba is a 33 km-long island of the Lesser Antilles in the southern Caribbean Sea, located 27 km north of the coast of Venezuela and 130 km east of Guajira Peninsula...

 is the smallest of the ABC islands and the closest to the mainland. Several rodents are known, none of which are definitely endemic. Most are from Pleistocene deposits, but Calomys hummelincki is extant.

• Calomys hummelincki, a phyllotine also known from nearby Curaçao (see there).
• Megalomys curazensis
  Megalomys curazensis
  Megalomys curazensis is a species of rodent from the Pleistocene of the island of Curaçao, off northwestern Venezuela. It is a member of the genus Megalomys, which also includes species from other islands of the Lesser Antilles. It is known from abundant but fragmentary material found throughout...
  
  . A few molars from a cave at Seroe Canashito form the only record of this species from Aruba; it has been suggested that they were transported there by raptors.
• Oryzomys
  Oryzomys
  Oryzomys is a genus of semiaquatic rodents in the tribe Oryzomyini living in southern North America and far northern South America. It includes eight species, two of which—the marsh rice rat of the United States and O. couesi of Mexico and Central America—are widespread; the six others have...
  
  sp. An extinct oryzomyine from Seroe Canashito has been recorded under this name.
• Sigmodon hirsutus, a widespread Central American and northern South American species known from Isla and Seroe Canashito.
• Zygodontomys brevicauda, another widespread Central American and northern South American species, but known only from Seroe Canashito.

Florida Keys

The Florida Keys

Florida Keys

The Florida Keys are a coral archipelago in southeast United States. They begin at the southeastern tip of the Florida peninsula, about south of Miami, and extend in a gentle arc south-southwest and then westward to Key West, the westernmost of the inhabited islands, and on to the uninhabited Dry...

 are a group of islands near the Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

 mainland. The rodent fauna includes two species which both also occur on the adjacent mainland.

• Cricetomys gambianus, an introduced nesomyid from Africa
  Africa
  Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
  
  . It has established a breeding population on Grassy Key
  Grassy Key
  Grassy Key, Florida is an island in the middle Florida Keys.It is located on U.S. 1 , at approximately mile markers 57—60, below the Conch Keys. It has an area of 3.65 km², with a population of 974 as of the census 2000....
  
  .
• Neotoma floridana, a widespread woodrat from the eastern United States. The Florida Keys population has been recognized as a separate subspecies, N. f. smalli.
• Oryzomys palustris, another species that is widespread in the eastern U.S. Different portions of the Florida Keys population have been recognized as the subspecies O. p. natator and as a separate species, O. argentatus; the latter is not currently accepted.

Bahamas

The Bahamas are a large archipelago north of Cuba and east of Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

. The only indigenous rodent is a hutia.

• Geocapromys ingrahami, a hutia indigenous to the Plana Cays
  Plana Cays
  The Plana Cays are a group of two small islands in the southern Bahama Islands located east of Acklins Island and west of Mayaguana Island. The islands are today uninhabited....
  
   that has later also been introduced to Little Wax Cay and Waderick Wells Cay. It is also known from archeological remains on many other islands, which represent two subspecies that are now extinct.

Cayman Islands

The Cayman Islands

Cayman Islands

The Cayman Islands is a British Overseas Territory and overseas territory of the European Union located in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac, and Little Cayman, located south of Cuba and northwest of Jamaica...

 are a group of British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 islands west of Jamaica. Their native rodent fauna consisted of several species of hutia, which are now extinct.

• Capromys sp., an undescribed hutia known from abundant subfossil material. It is close to the common Cuban Capromys pilorides, but smaller. The earliest radiocarbon records are latest Pleistocene
  Pleistocene
  The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
  
   and the latest are from around 1600 CE.
• Dasyprocta punctata, a Central and South American agouti that has been introduced to the Cayman Islands and also to Cuba.
• Geocapromys
  Geocapromys
  Geocapromys is a genus of rodent, comprising two extant species of hutia. The Bahamian Hutia or Ingraham's Hutia is native to the Bahamas, while the Jamaican Hutia , which is also known as the Jamaican Coney or Brown's Hutia, is endemic to Jamaica.The Little Swan Island Hutia Geocapromys is a...
  
  sp., another undescribed hutia. Two species are known: a smaller one on Grand Cayman
  Grand Cayman
  Grand Cayman is the largest of the three Cayman Islands and the location of the nation's capital, George Town. In relation to the other two Cayman Islands, it is approximately 75 miles southwest of Little Cayman and 90 miles southwest of Cayman Brac.-Geography:Grand Cayman encompasses 76% of...
  
   and a larger on Cayman Brac
  Cayman Brac
  Cayman Brac is an island that is part of the Cayman Islands. It lies in the Caribbean Sea about 90 miles northeast of Grand Cayman and 5 miles east of Little Cayman. It is about 12 miles long, with an average width of 1 mile...
  
  . They are most similar to the Cuban Geocapromys columbianus, but smaller. As with the Cayman Capromys, the earliest records are latest Pleistocene and the latest are post-Columbian.

Cozumel

Cozumel

Cozumel

Cozumel is an island in the Caribbean Sea off the eastern coast of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, opposite Playa del Carmen, and close to the Yucatan Channel. Cozumel is one of the ten municipalities of the state of Quintana Roo...

 is a large island near the mainland of the Mexican state of Quintana Roo

Quintana Roo

Quintana Roo officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Quintana Roo is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 10 municipalities and its capital city is Chetumal....

. The rodent fauna includes several species, all with close relations to forms from the adjacent mainland. The pocket gopher Orthogeomys hispidus has also been recorded, but most likely in error.

• Cuniculus paca, the lowland paca, has been recorded a few times; it is not known whether or not it has been introduced.
• Dasyprocta punctata, an agouti that was introduced to the island.
• Oryzomys couesi, a species widespread from southern Texas
  Texas
  Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
  
   to northern Colombia
  Colombia
  Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
  
  . The Cozumel population has been regarded as a separate species, O. cozumelae, but this is not currently accepted.
• Peromyscus leucopus, a widespread deermouse species in Mexico, the U.S., and southern Canada. The Cozumel population has been recognized as a separate subspecies, P. l. cozumelae. Another species of deermouse, P. yucatanicus, has also been recorded, but this is likely the result of confusion with P. leucopus.
• Reithrodontomys spectabilis, a large harvest mouse restricted to Cozumel and most closely related to the mainland R. gracilis.

Honduran islands

Several Caribbean islands are under the sovereignty of Honduras

Honduras

Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...

. These islands harbor two endemic rodents, one of which is now extinct. Several other species also occur on the Central American mainland.

• Dasyprocta ruatanica, an agouti known only from Roatán
  Roatán
  Roatán, located between the islands of Útila and Guanaja, is the largest of Honduras' Bay Islands. The island was formerly known as Ruatan and Rattan...
  
   in the Bay Islands. It resembles the mainland Dasyprocta punctata, but is smaller.
• Geocapromys thoracatus, a hutia
  Hutia
  Hutias are moderately large cavy-like rodents of the family Capromyidae that inhabit the Caribbean Islands. They range in size from , and can weigh up to . Twenty species of hutia have been identified, and half may be extinct. They resemble the nutria in some respects...
  
   which occurred only on the remote Swan Islands
  Swan Islands, Honduras
  The Swan Islands, or Islas Santanilla, are a chain of three islands located in the northwestern Caribbean Sea, approximately ninety miles off the coastline of Honduras, with a land area of .-Detailed location and features:...
  
  . It probably went extinct in the 1950s and may be most closely related to the Jamaica species Geocapromys brownii.
• Oryzomys couesi, a widespread mainland species also known from Roatán.
• Sigmodon hispidus has been recorded from Roatán and nearby Guanaja
  Guanaja
  Guanaja is one of the Bay Islands of Honduras, and is in the Caribbean. It is about 70 km off the north coast of Honduras, and 12 km from the island of Roatan. One of the cays off Guanaja, also called Guanaja or Bonnaca or Low Cay , is near the main island, and contains most of the...
  
  , but the systematic status of Honduran populations previously ascribed to this species is presently unclear.

Nueva Esparta

Nueva Esparta

Nueva Esparta

Nueva Esparta State is one of the 23 states of Venezuela. It comprises Margarita Island, Coche, and the largely uninhabited Cubagua.The state is the smallest one in area, and is located off the northeast Caribbean coast of Venezuela. It is the only insular state of Venuezuela...

 is a Venezuela

Venezuela

Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...

n state that comprises Isla Margarita

Isla Margarita

Margarita Island is the largest island of the state of Nueva Esparta in Venezuela, situated in the Caribbean Sea, off the northeastern coast of the country. The state also contains two other smaller islands: Coche and Cubagua. The capital city of Nueva Esparta is La Asunción, located in a river...

 and some nearby islands. Like Trinidad and Tobago, Isla Margarita is a land-bridge island with a relatively diverse rodent fauna.

• Heteromys anomalus, a heteromyid from both Isla Margarita and Trinidad and Tobago (see there).
• Oryzomys
  Oryzomys
  Oryzomys is a genus of semiaquatic rodents in the tribe Oryzomyini living in southern North America and far northern South America. It includes eight species, two of which—the marsh rice rat of the United States and O. couesi of Mexico and Central America—are widespread; the six others have...
  
  sp. An indeterminate Oryzomys was recorded from Isla Margarita in 1940 on the basis of isolated mandible
  Mandible
  The mandible pronunciation or inferior maxillary bone forms the lower jaw and holds the lower teeth in place...
  
  s found in a cave, but the record has not been revised since.
• Pattonomys
  Pattonomys
  Pattonomys is a genus of rodent in the Echimyidae family.It contains the following species:* Bare-tailed Armored Tree-rat * Speckled Spiny Tree-rat...
  
  . Echimys semivillosus is known from Isla Margarita, but this species has since been transferred to the genus Pattonomys and split into four species; it is unclear which of those occurs on Isla Margarita.
• Sciurus granatensis, a squirrel known from Isla Margarita as well as Trinidad and Tobago (see there).

See also

• List of North American rodents
• List of Central American rodents
• List of South American rodents

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