The capybara or greater capybara is a giant cavy rodent native to South America. It is the largest living rodent and a member of the genus Hydrochoerus. The only other extant member is the lesser capybara. Its close relatives include guinea pigs and rock cavies, and it is more distantly related to the agouti, the chinchilla, and the nutria. The capybara inhabits savannas and dense forests and lives near bodies of water. It is a highly social species and can be found in groups as large as 100 individuals, but usually lives in groups of 10–20 individuals. The capybara is hunted for its meat and hide and also for grease from its thick fatty skin. It is not considered a threatened species.
The Pliocene Epoch is the epoch in the geologic timescale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58 million years BP. It is the second and most recent epoch of the Neogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Pliocene follows the Miocene Epoch and is followed by the Pleistocene Epoch. Prior to the 2009 revision of the geologic time scale, which placed the four most recent major glaciations entirely within the Pleistocene, the Pliocene also included the Gelasian Stage, which lasted from 2.588 to 1.806 million years ago, and is now included in the Pleistocene.
Caviidae, the cavy family, is composed of rodents native to South America and includes the domestic guinea pig, wild cavies, and the largest living rodent, the capybara. They are found across South America in open areas from moist savanna to thorn forests or scrub desert. This family of rodents has fewer members than most other rodent families, with 19 species in 6 genera in 3 subfamilies.
Phorusrhacids, colloquially known as terror birds, are an extinct clade of large carnivorous flightless birds that were one of the largest species of apex predators in South America during the Cenozoic era; their conventionally accepted temporal range covers from 62 to 1.8 million years (Ma) ago.
The genus Hydrochoerus contains two living and two extinct species of rodents from South America, the Caribbean island of Grenada, California and Panama. Capybaras are the largest living rodents in the world. The genus name is derived from the Greek ὕδωρ plus χοίρος.
The Great American Biotic Interchange, also known as the Great American Interchange or Great American Faunal Interchange, was an important late Cenozoic paleozoogeographic biotic interchange event in which land and freshwater fauna migrated from North America via Central America to South America and vice versa, as the volcanic Isthmus of Panama rose up from the sea floor and bridged the formerly separated continents. Although earlier dispersals had occurred, probably over water, the migration accelerated dramatically about 2.7 million years (Ma) ago during the Piacenzian age. It resulted in the joining of the Neotropic and Nearctic biogeographic realms definitively to form the Americas. The interchange is visible from observation of both biostratigraphy and nature (neontology). Its most dramatic effect is on the zoogeography of mammals, but it also gave an opportunity for reptiles, amphibians, arthropods, weak-flying or flightless birds, and even freshwater fish to migrate.
Castoroides, or giant beaver, is an extinct genus of enormous, bear-sized beavers that lived in North America during the Pleistocene. Two species are currently recognized, C. dilophidus in the Southeastern US and C. ohioensis in the rest of its range. C. leiseyorum was previously described from the Irvingtonian of Florida, but is now regarded as an invalid name. All specimens previously described as C. leiseyorum are considered to belong to C. dilophidus.
Caviomorpha is the rodent infraorder or parvorder that unites all New World hystricognaths. It is supported by both fossil and molecular evidence. The Caviomorpha was for a time considered to be a separate order outside the Rodentia, but is now accepted as a genuine part of the rodents. Caviomorphs include the extinct Heptaxodontidae and extant families of chinchilla rats, hutias, guinea pigs and the capybara, chinchillas and viscachas, tuco-tucos, agoutis, pacas, pacaranas, spiny rats, New World porcupines, coypu and octodonts.
Neochoerus is an extinct genus of rodent closely related to the living capybara. Fossil remains of Neochoerus have been found through North America and South America in Boyacá, Colombia.
Hydrochoerinae is a subfamily of Caviidae, consisting of two living genera, Hydrochoerus, the capybaras, and Kerodon, the rock cavies. In addition, a number of extinct genera related to capybaras should also be placed in this subfamily. The taxonomy of Hydrochoerinae is confused because, until 2005, living capybaras and their extinct relatives were placed in their own family, Hydrochoeridae. Recent molecular phylogenetic studies recognize a close relationship between Hydrochoerus and Kerodon, supporting placement of both genera in a subfamily of Caviidae. Paleontological classifications have yet to incorporate this new taxonomy, and continue to use Hydrochoeridae for all capybaras, while using Hydrochoerinae for the living genus and its closest fossil relatives such as Neochoerus. The taxonomy of fossil hydrochoerines is also in a state of flux. In recent years, the diversity of fossil hydrochoerines has been substantially reduced. This is largely due to the recognition that capybara molar teeth show strong variation in shape over the life of an individual. In one instance, material once referred to four genera and seven species on the basis of differences in molar shape is now thought to represent differently aged individuals of a single species, Cardiatherium paranense.
Titanis is an extinct genus of giant flightless terror birds that inhabited North America during the early Pliocene to early Pleistocene epochs. The generic name, Titanis, refers to the titans, Ancient Greek gods that preceded the Twelve Olympians, in allusion to the bird's size. The specific name, T. walleri, honors the holotype's collector, Benjamin I. Waller, an avocational underwater archaeologist. Titanis was thought to be carnivorous and most likely preyed on the many small mammals of the time period. This giant flightless bird was one of the most efficient predators of its time in North America.
Cuvieronius is an extinct New World genus of gomphothere, named after the French naturalist Georges Cuvier. Alive, specimens typically stood about 2.3 m tall at the shoulder, weighed about 3.5 t and would have superficially resembled a modern elephant with spiral-shaped tusks.
Rodents are mammals of the order Rodentia, which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They are native to all major land masses except for New Zealand, Antarctica, and several oceanic islands, though they have subsequently been introduced to most of these land masses by human activity.
Holmesina is a genus of pampathere, an extinct group of armadillo-like creatures that were distantly related to extant armadillos. Like armadillos, and unlike the other extinct branch of megafaunal cingulates, the glyptodonts, the shell was made up of flexible plates which allowed the animal to move more easily. Holmesina species were herbivores that grazed on coarse vegetation; armadillos are mostly insectivorous or omnivorous.
Neochoerus aesopi was a relatively large rodent species native to North America until their extinction about 12,000 years ago, being closely related to modern capybaras. It was part of the subfamily Hydrochoerinae. Fossils of it have been found in U.S. states such as Florida and South Carolina. The species was originally outlined in 1853.
Megistonyx is an extinct genus of ground sloth endemic to South America during the Late Pleistocene (Lujanian). It is known from one skeleton collected in the Andes of Venezuela, and is closely related to Ahytherium.
Neolicaphrium is an extinct genus of ungulate mammal belonging to the extinct order Litopterna. This animal lived from the Late Pliocene (Chapadmalalan) to the Late Pleistocene (Lujanian) in southern South America, being the last survivor of the family Proterotheriidae.
The San Gregorio Formation is a lithostratigraphic unit dating back to the Pliocene to Pleistocene of Venezuela. The formation is split into three members, the older Vergel Member, the Cocuiza Member (Pleistocene) and the Río Seco Member. During this time the region is thought to have been covered by a mixed environment of open grassland and forested areas surrounding a permanent freshwater system. The diverse fauna of the San Gregorio Formation, including a variety of freshwater fish, crocodilians, turtles and snakes, also includes many mammals interpreted to have been part of the first major wave of the Great American Interchange in addition to native clades such as glyptodonts, ground sloths and caviomorph rodents.
Hydrochoerus hesperotiganites was a species of Capybara that lived in San Diego County, California, during the Rancholabrean stage of the Pleistocene. It's currently the only known capybara of the genus Hydrochoerus found in North America. It was closely related to the modern Greater and Lesser Capybara.
