The Caribbean rice rat was one of the first species extinct by a European invasive congener. Before the colonial encounter there was a wide array of rice rats species, but soon they were driven off by the European boat rats. In Nexus 1492 rice rats are used as a proxy for local strontium signatures. Recent aDNA research on rice rat remains from the Nexus sites Anse à la Gourde and Kelbey’s Ridge, and museum collections has shed light on their diversity and kinship.

Selina Brace, Samuel T. Turvey, Marcelo Weksler, Menno L.P. Hoogland, and Ian Barnes. 2015. “Unexpected evolutionary diversity in a recently extinct Caribbean mammal radiation”. Proceedings of the Royal Society B, volume 282, issue 1807.

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