Biology:Kritimys
| Kritimys Temporal range: Early - Middle Pleistocene
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Muridae |
| Subfamily: | Murinae |
| Genus: | †Kritimys Kuss & Missone, 1968 |
| Species | |
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K. catreus Bate, 1912 | |
| Synonyms | |
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Kritimys, also known as the Cretan giant rat[1] is an extinct genus of murid rodent that was endemic to the island of Crete during the Early and Middle Pleistocene.[2] There are two known species, K. kiridus from the Early-Mid Pleistocene, and its descendant K. catreus from the Middle Pleistocene.[2] It is suggested to be closely related to and probably derived from Praomys.[3] As with most island rodents, Kritimys was larger than its mainland relatives, with its size increasing over time,[4] with K. catreus estimated to weigh 518 grams (1.142 lb), around 6.7 times the weight of its mainland ancestor, an example of island gigantism.[3] The temporal range of the genus is considered to define the regional Kritimys biozone,[2] during which time there were only two other species of mammal native to the island, a species of dwarf mammoth, Mammuthus creticus and the dwarf hippopotamus Hippopotamus creutzburgi. It became extinct during the late Middle Pleistocene, following the arrival of the Mus bateae-minotaurus lineage (which appears to be related to Mus musculus) to the island, exhibiting a decrease in size shortly before its extinction.[5]
References
- ↑ van der Geer, Alexandra; Lyras, George; de Vos, John (April 27, 2021). Evolution of Island Mammals: Adaptation and Extinction of Placental Mammals on Islands. Wiley. p. 534. ISBN 9781119675747.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 George Iliopoulos; H. Eikamp; Charalampos Fassoulas (January 2017). "A New Late Pleistocene Mammal Locality from Western Crete". Bulletin of the Geological Society of Greece 43 (2): 918. doi:10.12681/bgsg.11257. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/313232134.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 van den Hoek Ostende, Lars W.; van der Geer, Alexandra A.E.; Wijngaarden, Carlijne L. (July 2017). "Why are there no giants at the dwarves feet? Insular micromammals in the eastern Mediterranean" (in en). Quaternary International 445: 269–278. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2016.05.007. https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S104061821630218X.
- ↑ van der Geer, Alexandra A.; Lyras, Georgios A.; Lomolino, Mark V.; Palombo, Maria Rita; Sax, Dov F. (August 2013). Masters, Judith. ed. "Body size evolution of palaeo-insular mammals: temporal variations and interspecific interactions" (in en). Journal of Biogeography 40 (8): 1440–1450. doi:10.1111/jbi.12119. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jbi.12119.
- ↑ Lyras, George A.; Athanassiou, Athanassios; van der Geer, Alexandra A. E. (2022), Vlachos, Evangelos, ed., "The Fossil Record of Insular Endemic Mammals from Greece" (in en), Fossil Vertebrates of Greece Vol. 2 (Cham: Springer International Publishing): pp. 661–701, doi:10.1007/978-3-030-68442-6_25, ISBN 978-3-030-68441-9, https://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-030-68442-6_25, retrieved 2023-03-20
Wikidata ☰ Q107750326 entry
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