Kingdom Animalia Genus †Amblyrhiza
Cope, 1868 Phylum Chordata Rank Species | Family †Heptaxodontidae Scientific name Amblyrhiza inundata Higher classification Amblyrhiza Order Rodent | |
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Similar Rodent, Oriente cave rat, Torre's cave rat, Geocapromys, Puerto Rican hutia | ||
The blunt-toothed giant hutia (Amblyrhiza inundata) is an extinct species of giant hutia from Anguilla and Saint Martin that is estimated to have weighed between 50 and 200 kg (110 and 440 lb).
Discovered by Edward Drinker Cope in 1868 in a sample of phosphate sediments mined in an unknown cave (possibly - Cavannagh Cave) in Anguilla and sent to Philadelphia to estimate the value of phosphate sediments.
Some authors have suggested that its extinction may have resulted from an overhunt by pre-columbian populations. Nevertheless, it is not an established fact that this species would have been contemporaneous with human populations. Actually, fossil specimens discovered at the end of the 20th century on Anguilla island have been related to the last interstadial period. while very recent discoveries made on Coco ilslet (Saint-Barthélemy) are dated to 400 - 500 000 years. No bone has been recovered yet from a pre-columbian archaeological site.
Amblyrhiza inundata is the sole species of the genus Amblyrhiza of the fossil family Heptaxodontidae.