A diverse group of 17 nominal species with living representatives on Cuba and East Plana Cay, Bahamas. Closely related to the extant Geocapromys of Jamaica and Little Swan Island. Numerous Cuban species are known only from fossil or sub fossil skeletal remains, but are difficult to enumerate because their taxonomic validity has not been critically reviewed. Typically, Capromys have a head and body length of 220 to 500 mm, with tails of 150-300mm. Bodyweight is in the range 0.5 - 7 kgs.