Porcupines are large rodents with coats of sharp spines, or quills, that protect them against predation. The term covers two families of animals: the Old World porcupines of the family Hystricidae, and the New World porcupines of the family Erethizontidae. Both families belong to the infraorder Hystricognathi within the profoundly diverse order Rodentia and display superficially similar coats of rigid or semi-rigid quills, which are modified hairs composed of keratin. Despite this, the two groups are distinct from one another and are not closely related to each other within the Hystricognathi. The largest species of porcupine is the third-largest living rodent in the world, after the capybara and beaver.
The New World porcupines, family Erethizontidae, are large arboreal rodents, distinguished by their spiny coverings from which they take their name. They inhabit forests and wooded regions across North America, and into northern South America. Although both the New World and Old World porcupine families belong to the Hystricognathi branch of the vast order Rodentia, they are quite different and are not closely related.
The bristle-spined rat is an arboreal rodent from the Atlantic forest in eastern Brazil. Also known as the bristle-spined porcupine or thin-spined porcupine, it is the only member of the genus Chaetomys and the subfamily Chaetomyinae. It was officially described in 1818, but rarely sighted since, until December 1986, when two specimens - one a pregnant female - were found in the vicinity of Valencia in Bahia. Since then it has been recorded at several localities in eastern Brazil, from Sergipe to Espírito Santo, but it remains rare and threatened due to habitat loss, poaching and roadkills.
The prehensile-tailed porcupines or coendous are found in Central and South America. Two other formerly recognized Neotropical tree porcupine genera, Echinoprocta and Sphiggurus, have been subsumed into Coendou, since Sphiggurus was shown by genetic studies to be polyphyletic, while Echinoprocta nested within Coendou.
The Paraguaian hairy dwarf porcupine is a porcupine species from the family Erethizontidae. It is found in Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.
The black-tailed hairy dwarf porcupine is a porcupine species from the family Erethizontidae. It is found in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname and Venezuela.
The Bahia porcupine, is a New World porcupine species in the family Erethizontidae endemic to the Atlantic Forest of southeastern Brazil. It was formerly sometimes assigned to Sphiggurus, a genus no longer recognized since genetic studies showed it to be polyphyletic. Sphiggurus pallidus, formerly considered a separate species but known from two young specimens only, is a synonym of this species.
Roosmalen's dwarf porcupine is a porcupine species from the New World porcupine family likely endemic to northern Brazil. Only three specimens were known at the time, and only one had a collection locality. It is named for Marc van Roosmalen and his son Tomas, whose collections from the middle Madeira included the first known specimens. It was soon assigned to the genus Sphiggurus, although this genus was not recognized by the authors. Genetic studies in 2013 have since showed Sphiggurus to be polyphyletic. Nonetheless it is commonly classified as Sphiggurus roosmalenorum. Coendou roosmalenorum may be misspelled due to a conflicting basionym combination.
The 27 species in the genus Marmosa are relatively small Neotropical members of the family Didelphidae. This genus is one of three that are known as mouse opossums. The others are Thylamys and Tlacuatzin, the grayish mouse opossum. Members of the genus Marmosops used to be called "slender mouse opossums", but are now just called "slender opossums". The thirteen members of the Marmosa subgenus Micoureus, known as woolly mouse opossums, were formerly considered to be a separate genus, but were moved into Marmosa in 2009. Based on a comparison of sequences of one mitochondrial and three nuclear genes, three new subgenera, Eomarmosa, Exulomarmosa and Stegomarmosa, were recognized by Voss et al. in 2014. Eomarmosa and Exulomarmosa, as well as Marmosa and Micoureus, are thought to be sister taxa, while Stegomarmosa is viewed as sister to Marmosa plus Micoureus. Exulomarmosa is a mostly trans-Andean clade.
The bicolored-spined porcupine is a species of nocturnal and arboreal rodent in the family Erethizontidae. It is found in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.
The stump-tailed porcupine is a species of rodent in the family Erethizontidae. It is found mainly in Colombia, with a few records from Ecuador.
The Mexican hairy dwarf porcupine or Mexican tree porcupine is a species of rodent in the family Erethizontidae. It is found in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Mexico, Nicaragua and Belize.
The brown hairy dwarf porcupine is a species of rodent in the family Erethizontidae. Found in the Andes in Colombia and Venezuela, its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. It is not easy to study as it is only known from a few specimens and wasn't recorded from 1925 until the 2000s. The porcupine is nocturnal and arboreal, feeding on leaves, shoots, and fruits. Habitat loss severely threatens it and it may even be extinct. Formerly listed as vulnerable, it is now designated data deficient. It is not known from any protected areas or conservation measures.
The streaked dwarf porcupine is a porcupine species in the family Erethizontidae. It is known from the lowlands of eastern Ecuador, and may be present in Peru as well. It appears to be nocturnal and arboreal in its habits.
The frosted hairy dwarf porcupine is a porcupine species in the family Erethizontidae from Colombia and northern and eastern Venezuela. It was formerly sometimes assigned to Sphiggurus, a genus no longer recognized since genetic studies showed it to be polyphyletic. The species lives in lowland tropical rainforest and cloud forest at elevations from 50 to 2,600 meters. Its karyotype has 2n = 42 and FN = 76. Its closest relative is the brown hairy dwarf porcupine.
The little woolly mouse opossum is a nocturnal, arboreal and mainly solitary South American marsupial of the family Didelphidae. It is native to the western slopes of the Andes in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, where it lives at altitudes from sea level to 1500 m. It primarily inhabits lowland rainforest and montane cloud forest, although it has been reported from dry forest in the southern end of its range. It was formerly assigned to the genus Micoureus, which was made a subgenus of Marmosa in 2009. Its conservation status is Vulnerable, due to habitat fragmentation and continuing loss of habitat via urbanization and conversion to agriculture.
The Cajamarca Oldfield mouse is a species of rodent in the family Cricetidae. It is present in the Andes of northwestern Peru, where its habitats include shrubby páramo, montane forest, and secondary forest. The rodent is nocturnal and may be partly arboreal. It was formerly considered a subspecies of T. aureus. The common name comes from the Peruvian city and region of Cajamarca.
James Lloyd Patton, is an American evolutionary biologist and mammalogist. He is emeritus professor of integrative biology and curator of mammals at the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, UC Berkeley and has made extensive contributions to the systematics and biogeography of several vertebrate taxa, especially small mammals.
Echimyidae is the family of neotropical spiny rats and their fossil relatives. This is the most species-rich family of hystricognath rodents. It is probably also the most ecologically diverse, with members ranging from fully arboreal to terrestrial to fossorial to semiaquatic habits. They presently exist mainly in South America; three members of the family also range into Central America, and the hutias are found in the Greater Antilles in the Caribbean. Species of the extinct subfamily Heteropsomyinae formerly lived on Cuba, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico in the Antilles, probably until the arrival of Europeans.
Coendou speratus, known locally as coandumirim and commonly as the dwarf porcupine, is small porcupine of the Coendou genus found in northeastern Brazil. This small porcupine has a long tail and a spiny appearance as its dorsal fur is not long. Its dorsal colouring is blackish which contrasts with the brownish tips of its quills. It is distinguished from Coendou nycthemera by its tricolored quills whereas nycthemera is bicoloured.
