Excavations at Liang Bua Cave yielded a large amount of micromammal remains, the major part of which are murids, and some can be referred to three different species of giant rats. Whilst Papagomys armandvillei is still living on Flores, the other two species, Papagomys theodorverhoeveni and Spelaeomys florensis went extinct late during the Holocene. In this paper, the fossil record of these species at Liang Bua Cave is discussed. These giant murids are a clear example of insular gigantism, and can be seen as end members of the Island Rule. Opposition against the general applicability of this 'rule' is mainly based on a scale perspective. The study of giant rats at Liang Bua cave provides new insights in the understanding of human behavior, diet and environment. A strong acme in the number of giant rats in the cave during the Holocene may represent a taphonomical artifact, resulting from Palaeolithic hunting activity. AbstractExcavations at Liang Bua Cave have yielded a large amount of micromammals remains, the major part of which are murids, and some of them can be referred to three different species of giant rats. Whilst Papagomys armandvillei (Jentink, 1892) is still living on Flores, the other two species, P.

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The Liang Bua Cave (Flores, Indonesia) has yielded numerous fossils of murids from the Late Pleistocene and Holocene, including giant rats. In this study, we describe the middle-sized forms, that is, murids of about the same size as Rattus rattus. Two endemic species were found at Liang Bua, Komodomys rintjanus and Paulamys naso, which were present since the oldest phases of the occupation of the cave. Both have survived until the present day and currently occupy contrasting habitats. Two commensal species, presumably R. rattus and R. argentiventer, reached the island only in the youngest phases. Based on the ecological preferences of recent Komodomys and Paulamys, it appears that the arrival of Neolithic Man and commensal rats coincides with a period of relative drought.

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