Date: February 22, 2017
Source: Taylor & Francis
Group
Adult and juvenile remains of a
giant rodent species (Isostylomys
laurdillardi) have been uncovered by researchers, in the Río de la Plata
coastal region of southern Uruguay, raising questions about classification
within dinomids.
The study, detailed in Journal of
Systematic Palaeontology, consisted of examining teeth structure and development,
and comparing the fossils to previously found examples and the largest living
rodent -- the capybara. It was proposed that, due to similarities in the
adult's and the juvenile's teeth structure, previously found fossils, which
were smaller and thought to belong to a different species, were in fact from
the same species.
The authors have consequently
proposed that members of the subfamily Gyriabrinae could represent juveniles
belonging to other subfamilies of Dinomyidae and that three known species of
the genus Isostylomys should be merged into just one species, Isostylomys laurillardi.
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