Aurimys is an extinct genus of kangaroo rats from the Early Miocene of North America. They are known from a single specimen from a 23 million-year-old deposit in Oregon consisting of a nearly complete skull and jawbone, a partial hindfoot and a bone from the tail. It is both the earliest and largest known member of its subfamily, with the skull measuring approximately 4.5 cm (1.8 in) in length, about one third longer than that of the largest living species. The shape of the bones in the foot suggest that, unlike modern species, it was quadrupedal, rather than hopping bipedally.[1]
| Aurimys Temporal range: Early Miocene
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Heteromyidae |
| Subfamily: | Dipodomyinae |
| Genus: | †Aurimys Samuels, Calede, & Hunt, 2023 |
| Type species | |
| †Aurimys xeros Samuels, Calede, & Hunt, 2023
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References
edit- ^ Samuels, J.X.; Calede, J.J.-M.; Hunt, R.M. (March 2023). "The earliest dipodomyine heteromyid in North America and the phylogenetic relationships of geomorph rodents". PeerJ. 11: e14693. doi:10.7717/peerj.14693. PMC 10007967. PMID 36915658.