The rodent, which weighs more than a kilogramme, was discovered in Hispaniola island by Samuel Turvey of the Zoological Society of London and colleagues.
The rodent is a type of hutia, a family of secretive rodents that live in the Carribean islands, 'New Scientist' reported.
The rodent has been named Plagiodontia aedium bondi after Philadelphia ornithologist James Bond who studied the distribution of hutias and their relatives in the Caribbean.
The newly discovered resident may be one of only eight types of hutia left.
Although there were once more than 30 species, most hutia have been driven to extinction by the colonisation of the islands.