An almost complete skeleton was discovered in Urumaco, Venezuela in 2000. The new species was later classified with the name Phoberomys pattersoni in honor of palaeontologist Brian Patterson.[1] From the fossil, researchers have been able to reconstruct its size and probable lifestyle. It was 3 m (9.8 ft) long, with an additional 1.5 m (4.9 ft) tail, and probably weighed around 700 kg (1,500 lb) (another source gives a more modest estimate of around 250 kg (550 lb)), making it for some years the largest known rodent for which a good size and weight estimate was possible. Its congener Phoberomys insolita was a bit larger still, but it is not known from any reasonably complete remains and thus its size cannot be estimated more precisely.