Word: aenigmamus
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...DISCOVERED. LAONASTES AENIGMAMUS, believed to be a member of an entire family of mammals previously unknown to science; in central Laos. In 1996, scientists from the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society spotted the small, ratlike animal being sold as food in a Lao market. Genetic analysis revealed the animal diverged from other rodents millions of years ago, making this the first discovery of an entirely new scientific family-a classification above genus and species-since 1974. The animal's discoverer, Robert Timmins, calls it a Laotian Rock Rat, and said it could represent "the last remaining mammal family left...
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