Aurimys

Aurimys is an extinct genus of kangaroo rats from the Early Miocene of North America. They are known from a single specimen from a 23 million-year-old deposit in Oregon consisting of a nearly complete skull and jawbone, a partial hindfoot and a bone from the tail. It is both the earliest and largest known member of its subfamily, with the skull measuring approximately 4.5 cm (1.8 in) in length, about one third longer than that of the largest living species. The shape of the bones in the foot suggest that, unlike modern species, it was quadrupedal, rather than hopping bipedally.^[1]

Aurimys Temporal range: Early Miocene
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Clade:	Sarcopterygii
Clade:	Tetrapodomorpha
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Rodentia
Family:	Heteromyidae
Subfamily:	Dipodomyinae
Genus:	†Aurimys Samuels, Calede, & Hunt, 2023
Type species
†Aurimys xeros Samuels, Calede, & Hunt, 2023
Species
A. xeros