Leithia

Leithia is an extinct genus of giant dormice from the Pleistocene of the Mediterranean islands of Malta and Sicily. It is considered an example of island gigantism. Leithia melitensis is the largest known species of dormouse, living or extinct, being twice the size of any other known species.

==Discovery and taxonomy== The species were first named by Andrew Leith Adams in 1863 from remains found in caves in Malta and were assigned to the living genus Myoxus. Leithia was proposed in 1896 by Richard Lydekker as a new genus, suggesting an arrangement currently recognised as the subfamily Leithiinae; the names honour Leith Adams. Two species of Leithia, namely Leithia melitensis and the smaller L. cartei, lived in Sicily and Malta.