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Holotype skull, seen from above, below and the left

Oryzomys antillarum, the Jamaican rice rat, is an extinct rodent known from subfossils and specimens collected live in the 19th century. It probably became extinct late in that century, perhaps due to the introduction of the small Indian mongoose, competition with introduced rodents such as the brown rat, and habitat destruction in Jamaica. O. antillarum was a medium-sized rat, with a length of 120 to 132 mm (4.7 to 5.2 in), not including the tail; the skull was about 30 mm (1.2 in) long. The upperparts were reddish and graded into the yellowish underparts. The tail was about as long as the head and body, sparsely haired, and darker above than below. The species was similar in most respects to the rice rat Oryzomys couesi of mainland Central America, but had longer nasal bones, shorter perforations of the palate near the incisors, and more robust cheekbones. (This article is part of a featured topic: Oryzomys.)

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Did you know ...

Scrunchies

... that nightclub singer Rommy Revson earned millions of dollars from her 1986 invention of the scrunchie (examples pictured), which she originally named after her pet poodle?
... that Mark Williams travelled for more than 13 hours to be a last-minute replacement at the 2022 Hong Kong Masters?
... that Sir Frank Price, a former Lord Mayor of Birmingham, grew up in the city's slums and left school at the age of 14?
... that the beat in Taylor Swift's song "Holy Ground" was described by Brad Nelson of The Atlantic as "insistent enough to act as punctuation for the lyrics"?
... that Carlo Carrà attributed The Funeral of the Anarchist Galli to the 1904 Italian general strike, while the actual funeral and riot occured in 1906?
... that American illustrator Alfred Skrenda "was particularly adept at billowing skirts and heroic gazes"?
... that the Pedestals of Biahmu are known locally as Al-Ṣanam, Arabic for "the idol"?
... that the Sugar Puffs bear once escaped from Clinton Keeling's home zoo?

In the news

Liz Truss

Amid a government crisis in the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Liz Truss (pictured) announces her resignation.
Ulf Kristersson is elected Prime Minister of Sweden following a four-party agreement.
Hurricane Julia leaves more than 90 people dead across South and Central America.
After an explosion damages the Crimean Bridge, Russia attacks many Ukrainian cities with missiles.

On this day

October 24: Labour Day in New Zealand (2022)

Lam Wing-kee

1789 – The Brabant Revolution, sometimes considered to be the first expression of Belgian nationalism, began with the invasion of the Austrian Netherlands by an émigré army from the Dutch Republic.
1851 – William Lassell found Umbriel and Ariel, the third and fourth Uranian moons to be discovered.
1944 – World War II: The Japanese battleship Musashi, one of the heaviest and most powerfully armed ever constructed, was sunk by American aircraft during the Battle of Leyte Gulf.
1949 – The cornerstone of the United Nations headquarters was laid in New York City.
2015 – Lam Wing-kee (pictured), the owner of Causeway Bay Books in Hong Kong, known for publishing political books banned in mainland China, was abducted by Chinese authorities.

Kanae Yamamoto (b. 1882)
Pin Malakul (b. 1903)
Yasumi Matsuno (b. 1965)

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From today's featured list

Anne Hathaway

American actress Anne Hathaway has won 40 awards from 101 nominations. Her film debut came with the leading role of Mia Thermopolis in the Disney comedy The Princess Diaries (2001), for which she was nominated for an MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Performance. In 2008, Hathaway played a recovering drug addict in Rachel Getting Married, for which she received nominations for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress. For playing Fantine, a prostitute dying of tuberculosis, in Les Misérables (2012), she won several awards, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and a BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress. Hathaway played a NASA scientist in the science fiction film Interstellar (2014), for which she was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Actress. (Full list...)

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Today's featured picture

The sociable weaver (Philetairus socius) is a species of bird in the weaver family, Ploceidae, endemic to southern Africa. It is the only species in the monotypic genus Philetairus. The bird is found in South Africa, Namibia, and Botswana, with its range centred within the South African province of Northern Cape. They build large compound community nests, which are amongst the largest built by any avian species and capable of housing more than a hundred pairs of birds. This sociable weaver was photographed perching on a branch in Tswalu Kalahari Reserve, South Africa.

Photograph credit: Charles J. Sharp

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