Little Swan Island hutia

Little Swan Island hutia

Extinct  (1955)  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Suborder: Hystricomorpha
Family: Capromyidae
Genus: Geocapromys
Species: G. thoracatus
Binomial name
Geocapromys thoracatus
(True, 1888)

The Little Swan Island hutia (Geocapromys thoracatus) is an extinct species of rodent that lived on the Swan Islands, off north-eastern Honduras in the Caribbean. It was a slow-moving, guinea-pig-like rodent and probably emerged from caves and limestone crevices to forage on bark, small twigs and leaves.

It may have been a subspecies of the Jamaican hutia (Geocapromys browni), whose ancestors were carried to the island from Jamaica, 5000-7000 years ago. It was fairly common in the early 20th century, but disappeared after a severe hurricane (Hurricane Janet) in 1955, followed by the introduction of house cats to the island.

References

  1. Turvey, S. & Helgen, K. (2008). Geocapromys thoracatus. In: IUCN 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Retrieved 5 January 2009.
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