San Felipe Hutia

Open encyclopedia reference

The San Felipe hutia (Mesocapromys sanfelipensis), also known as the little earth hutia, is small, critically endangered, rat-like mammal found on the small island of Cayo de Juan Garcia off the southwest coast of Cuba. It was discovered in 1970 and is possibly extinct. Little is known about the species, except that it lives in swamps and coastal mangrove forests. It is a member of the hutia subfamily (Capromyinae), a group of stout rodents native to the Caribbean that are mostly endangered or extinct. The San Felipe hutia lives on Cayo de Juan Garcia and possibly adjacent islands, part of the Cayos de San Felipe located west of Isla de la Juventud. The San Felipe hutia is a small rodent, with a body length of 8 to 9 in (20 to 23 cm). It has a grayish-brown fur, a short tail, small ears and a thick body. It is nocturnal, and usually forages for food at night. It is believed to live in burrows or rock crevices near water, as well as in mangrove forests.

Wikipedia contributors, San Felipe hutia; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T08:06:42.970638+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Mesocapromys sanfelipensis (Varona & Garrido, 1970)

Name authority

(Varona & Garrido, 1970)

Common name

San Felipe Hutia

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Mammalia

Order

Rodentia

Family

Echimyidae

Genus

Mesocapromys

Extinction status

Recorded extant

Classification family tree

Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. megaclassTetrapoda
8. classMammalia Linnaeus, 1758
9. subclassTheria Parker & Haswell, 1897
10. infraclassEutheria Gill, 1872
11. orderRodentia Bowdich, 1821
12. suborderHystricomorpha Brandt, 1855
13. infraorderHystricognathi Brandt, 1855
14. familyEchimyidae Gray, 1825
15. subfamilyCapromyinae Smith, 1842
16. tribeCapromyini Smith, 1842
17. genusMesocapromys Varona, 1970
18. speciesMesocapromys sanfelipensis (Varona & Garrido, 1970)

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Mesocapromys. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

Browse 94 records assigned to Echimyidae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

Documented distribution

Source distribution statements, not a complete range map. A listed locality is not necessarily a place of origin.

Source literature & publication evidence

References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.

1. https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=584872 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references

Origins, evidence & remaining research

Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.

Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.

Dataset citation & attribution

This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11

Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.

Stable key: col:3ZZYY. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.