Samana hutia
The Veloz - Zaguti ( Plagiodontia ipnaeum ), also known as a Piglet Veloz rat, Veloz - Huitia or Johnson piglets rat, is an extinct rodent of the genus Zagutis ( Plagiodontia ) in the family tree rats ( Capromyidae ). It is known only by subfossiles material which was discovered in Køkkenmøddinger in the Dominican Republic and Haiti. The forms Plagiodontia velozi and Plagiodontia caletensis described by Renato Rimoli 1976 ipnaeum identical to Plagiodontia.
Features
Judging from the skull after, the Veloz - Zaguti was the largest known type of Zagutis. It probably reached a weight of about 5 kg. The limbs were longer, and the molar crowns were higher than for the other Zaguti species. The holotype in the U.S. National Museum located in 1928 by the archaeologist Herbert William Krieger ( 1889-1970 ) collected 2 km east of Samana in the Dominican Republic in the deposits of a Køkkenmøddinger in the village Ciguayan at Anadel. It consists of the central portion of a skull, in which the majority of the rostrum and the cranium is missing. The skull of the type specimen is high and larger than any skull of the other species of the genus Plagiodontia. The palatine bone is narrowed to the front. The palatal pits are located opposite the middle of the first molar. The upper rows of teeth are forward close together. Backward they go apart. The molars are progressively smaller from the fourth premolar and third molar, with the largest difference between the fourth premolar and the first molar. The mandible is more massive than the other species of the genus. The angle of projection of the lower jaw is greatly expanded horizontally.
Until the description of the type in 1948 134 cranial, mandibular and dental fragments were discovered in the deposits of caves and Køkkenmøddinger. The localities are among others Anadel, Dominican Republic ( terra typica ), at the mouth of the Río San Juan, 10 km north of Samana, Dominican Republic, in the province of Monte Cristi in the northeastern Dominican Republic, near Constanza in the west of the province La Vega, Dominican Republic, San Pedro de Macoris in, Dominican Republic, and in a cave near the Atalaye plantation near Saint- Michel -de- l'Atalaye in Haiti.
Extinction
The species is " extinct " by the IUCN in the category listed ( extinct ). The exact Aussterbezeitpunkt is unknown. Since often the subfossil remains have been found in the deposits of rats, extinction as a result of European colonization of Hispaniola is suspected in the 17th century. The main cause of over-hunting and adjustment are by rats. The historian Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo, who lived from 1536 to 1546 on Hispaniola, mentioned in his Historia General y Natural de las Indias y Tierra Firme del Mar - Oceono a rodent called " Quemi ". It is possible that this type was identical to that Veloz - Zaguti. There is also the remote possibility that one as " Comadreja " designated animal that is supposed to have survived until the 20th century, also represents this type.