Caribbean super-rat history extracted from DNA

Scientists have pieced together the evolutionary history of a fascinating group of extinct Caribbean rats, some of which grew to the size of cats. The so-called rice rats were lost from the Lesser Antilles - the likes of St Kitts and Grenada - over 100 years ago. They were driven to oblivion by the activities of European settlers. But now, UK researchers' DNA studies have worked out when the rodents first arrived in the islands, and how they radiated across the region. Selina Brace, Sam Turvey and others report their work in Proceedings B, a journal of the Royal Society. It was a tough job. Only a few examples of these rats are still held in museum collections, and the DNA material recovered from archaeological specimens tends to have degraded in the tropical heat. Nonetheless, the team was able to find sufficient samples to map out the rodents' history. Surprising diversity The investigations show these creatures probably first arrived in the eastern Caribbean about six million years ago, in the late Miocene.READ MORE-http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-32412191