Heptaxodontidae, rarely called giant hutia, is an extinct family of large rodents known from fossil and subfossil material found in the West Indies. One species, Amblyrhiza inundata, is estimated to have weighed between , reaching the weight of an eastern gorilla. This is twice as large as the capybara, the largest rodent living today, but still much smaller than Josephoartigasia monesi, the largest rodent known. These animals were probably used as a food source by the pre-Columbian peoples of the Caribbean. Heptaxodontidae contains no living species and the grouping seems to be paraphyletic and arbitrary, however. One of the smaller species, Quemisia gravis, may have survived as late as when the Spanish began to colonize the Caribbean. Despite the vernacular name, heptaxodontids are not closely related to the extant hutias of the family Echimyidae; Heptaxodontids are thought to be more closely related to the chinchillas. Taxonomy Heptaxodontidae is divided into two subfamilies and contains six species in five genera. Family Heptaxodontidae Subfamily Heptaxodontinae Genus Amblyrhiza Amblyrhiza inundata from Anguilla and St. Martin Genus Elasmodontomys Elasmodontomys obliquus from Puerto Rico Genus Quemisia Quemisia gravis from Hispaniola Genus Xaymaca Xaymaca fulvopulvis from Jamaica Subfamily Clidomyinae Genus Clidomys Clidomys osborni from Jamaica See also Island gigantism References Bibliography Biknevicius, A. R.; McFarlane, Donald A. & MacPhee, R. D. E. (1993): Body size in Amblyrhiza inundata (Rodentia: Caviomorpha), an extinct megafaunal rodent from the Anguilla Bank, West Indies: estimates and implications. American Museum Novitates 3079: 1-26. PDF fulltext MacPhee, R. D. E. & Flemming, C. (2003): A possible heptaxodontine and other caviidan rodents from the Quaternary of Jamaica. American Museum Novitates 3422: 1-42. PDF fulltext Nowak, Ronald M. 1999. Walker's Mammals of the World, 6th edition. Johns Hopkins University Press, 1936 Woods, C. A. 1989. Biogeography of West Indian rodents. Pages 741–797 in Biogeography of the West Indies: Past Present and Future. Sandhill Crane Press, Gainesville. Hystricognath rodents Fossils of the Caribbean Holocene extinctions Pleistocene first appearances Fossil taxa described in 1917 Prehistoric rodent families