Golunda
Appearance
Golunda | |
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Indian bush rat (Golunda ellioti) | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Rodentia |
Family: | Muridae |
Tribe: | Arvicanthini |
Genus: | Golunda Gray, 1837 |
Species | |
Golunda is a genus of murine rodent.
Fossil record
The Indian bush rat (Golunda ellioti) is the sole surviving member of this genus, but it was formerly more diverse and widespread, occurring in both Asia and Africa. The last surviving species in Africa was Golunda aouraghei from the Early Pleistocene.[1] The genus was thought to have originated in Africa, with the Pliocene-aged G. gurai thought to be ancestral to all other species, but it is now thought that the genus originated in India with the species G. tatroticus, also from the Pliocene.[2]
References
- ^ Piñero, P. (2019). "Golunda aouraghei, sp. nov., the Last Representative of the Genus Golunda in Africa". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 39 (6). doi:10.1080/02724634.2019.1742726.
- ^ Kotlia, B.; Sanwal, J. (2004). "A new species of Golunda (Rodentia, Muridae) from the Late Pleistocene of Indian Himalaya". Geobios. 37 (6): 725–730. doi:10.1016/j.geobios.2003.06.004.