Proechimys

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Proechimys
Proechimys longicaudatus.jpg
Proechimys longicaudatus
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Rodentia
Family: Echimyidae
Subfamily: Echimyinae
Tribe: Myocastorini
Genus: Proechimys
J. A. Allen, 1899
Type species
Echimys trinitatis
Species

Proechimys brevicauda
Proechimys canicollis
Proechimys chrysaeolus
Proechimys cuvieri
Proechimys decumanus
Proechimys echinothrix
Proechimys gardneri
Proechimys goeldii
Proechimys guairae
Proechimys guyannensis
Proechimys hoplomyoides
Proechimys kulinae
Proechimys longicaudatus
Proechimys magdalenae
Proechimys mincae
Proechimys oconnelli
Proechimys pattoni
Proechimys poliopus
Proechimys quadruplicatus
Proechimys roberti
Proechimys semispinosus
Proechimys simonsi
Proechimys steerei
Proechimys trinitatis
Proechimys urichi

Contents

Proechimys is a genus of South American spiny rats of the family Echimyidae. [1] All species of the genus are terrestrial. In the lowland Neotropical forests, Proechimys rodents are often the most abundant non-volant mammals. [2] They are recognizable by reason of their elongated heads and long rostra, large and erect ears, narrow and long hind feet, and tails always shorter than head-and-body lengths. The dorsal pelage comprises a mixture of expanded, varyingly stiffened spines (or aristiforms) — hence the vernacular name of spiny rats — and soft hairs (or setiforms). [2]

Proechimys is the most speciose genus of the rodent family Echimyidae, with 25 species recognized, followed by Phyllomys with 13 species, and Trinomys with 11 species.

Phylogeny

Genus level

The genus Proechimys is the sister group to the genus Hoplomys (the armored rat). In turn, these two taxa share evolutionary affinities with other Myocastorini genera: Callistomys (the painted tree-rat) and Myocastor (the coypu or nutria) on the one hand, and Thrichomys on the other hand.

Genus-level cladogram of the Myocastorini.
Myocastorini   
         

  Thrichomys (punaré)

         
         

  Hoplomys (armored rat)

  Proechimys

The cladogram has been reconstructed from mitochondrial and nuclear DNA characters. [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]

Species level

Reconstructing the systematics and phylogeny of Proechimys species have been greatly hampered by extreme levels of within- and among-population character variability. [2] This difficulty has been emphasized by Pine et al.:

Among the rodents, Proechimys remains what may be the most problematical genus taxonomically in all mammaldom. [10]

To infer the phylogeny of Proechimys at the species level, morphological characters [11] and mitochondrial DNA sequences [12] have been used, and allowed to group species into major clades but whose interrelationships remain unresolved. [2] Six species groups were identified (group semispinosus, group longicaudatus, group guyannensis, group trinitatus, group goeldii, and group gardneri), and 4 species ( Proechimys simonsi , P. echinothrix , P. canicollis , and P. decumanus ) remained unaffiliated to any of these groups. [13]

Species-level cladogram of the genus Proechimys.
Myocastorini   
   Hoplomys   

  Hoplomys gymnurus

   Proechimys   

  Proechimys canicollis (Colombian spiny rat)

  Proechimys decumanus (Pacific spiny rat)

  Proechimys echinothrix (Stiff-spine spiny rat)

  Proechimys simonsi (Simon's spiny rat)

  group gardneri  
  group semispinosus  
  group guyannensis  
  group longicaudatus  
  group goeldii  
  group trinitatus  
The cladogram has been reconstructed from morphological characters and mitochondrial DNA (cytochrome b) sequences. [11] [12] [2] [13]


The different groups of species can be diagnosed as follows. [13]

Distribution

Proechimys species presently occur mainly in South America, in all countries except Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile. [14] One member of the genus ( P. semispinosus ) also ranges into Central America.

Geographical distribution of Proechimys species in Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela, and Central America (+ : presence in the corresponding country ; — : not observed). [14]
Groups of species are numbered according to the species-level phylogeny.
GroupsSpecies BRA BOL COL ECU GUF GUY PRY PER SUR TTO VEN C.Am
03 Proechimys brevicauda ++++———+————
07 Proechimys canicollis ——+———————+—
06 Proechimys chrysaeolus ——+—————————
03 Proechimys cuvieri +———++—++———
08 Proechimys decumanus ———+———+————
05 Proechimys echinothrix +— ?—————————
10 Proechimys gardneri ++——————————
09 Proechimys goeldii +———————————
06 Proechimys guairae ——————————+—
04 Proechimys guyannensis +———++——+—+—
06 Proechimys hoplomyoides +————+————+—
10 Proechimys kulinae +——————+————
03 Proechimys longicaudatus ++————+—————
06 Proechimys magdalenae ——+—————————
06 Proechimys mincae ——+—————————
02 Proechimys oconnelli ——+—————————
10 Proechimys pattoni +——————+————
06 Proechimys poliopus ——+———————+—
09 Proechimys quadruplicatus +—++———+——+—
04 Proechimys roberti +———————————
02 Proechimys semispinosus ——++———————+
01 Proechimys simonsi ++++———+————
09 Proechimys steerei ++—————+————
06 Proechimys trinitatus —————————+——
06 Proechimys urichi ——————————+—

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guyenne spiny rat</span> Species of mammals belonging to the spiny rat family of rodents

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<i>Diplomys</i> Genus of mammals belonging to the spiny rat family of rodents

Diplomys is a genus of rodent in the family Echimyidae. They are found in Costa Rica, Ecuador, Colombia and Panama.

Makalata is a genus of rodents in the family Echimyidae.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Echimyidae</span> Family of rodents

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 West Indies in the Caribbean. Species of the extinct subfamily Heteropsomyinae formerly lived on Cuba, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico in the Antilles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Myocastorini</span> A tribe of mammals belonging to the spiny rat family of rodents

Myocastorini is a tribe of echimyid rodents, proposed in 2017, and containing the five extant genera Callistomys, Hoplomys, Myocastor, Proechimys, and Thrichomys.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Echimyini</span> A tribe of mammals belonging to the spiny rat family of rodents

Echimyini is a tribe of echimyid rodents, proposed in 2016, and containing 13 extant genera: all of the tree rats Echimys, Phyllomys, Makalata, Pattonomys, Toromys, Diplomys, Santamartamys, and Isothrix, the long recognized dactylomines Dactylomys, Olallamys, and Kannabateomys, and the enigmatic and previously classified as eumysopines Lonchothrix and Mesomys. All these spiny rats genera are arboreal. Worth of note, the arboreal genus Callistomys – the painted-tree rat – does not belong to the tribe Echimyini. Because it is phylogenetically closer to Myocastor, Hoplomys, Proechimys, and Thrichomys than to the above-mentioned Echimyini genera, it is classified in the tribe Myocastorini.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Echimyinae</span> A subfamily of mammals belonging to the spiny rat family of rodents

Echimyinae is a subfamily of rodents belonging to the spiny rats family Echimyidae. It contains 14 arboreal genera—all the members of the tribe Echimyini, plus Callistomys—a few terrestrial genera, and a subaquatic genus (Myocastor).

References

  1. ↑ Woods, C.A.; Kilpatrick, C.W. (2005). "Genus Proechimys". In Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. pp. 1584–1588. ISBN   978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC   62265494.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Patton, James L.; Da Silva, Maria Nazareth F.; Malcolm, Jay R. (2000-01-01). "Mammals of the Rio Juruá and the evolutionary and ecological diversification of Amazonia" (PDF). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 244: 1. doi:10.1206/0003-0090(2000)244<0001:MOTRJA>2.0.CO;2. ISSN   0003-0090.
  3. ↑ Galewski, Thomas; Mauffrey, Jean-François; Leite, Yuri L. R.; Patton, James L.; Douzery, Emmanuel J. P. (2005). "Ecomorphological diversification among South American spiny rats (Rodentia; Echimyidae): a phylogenetic and chronological approach". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 34 (3): 601–615. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2004.11.015. PMID   15683932.
  4. ↑ Upham, Nathan S.; Patterson, Bruce D. (2012). "Diversification and biogeography of the Neotropical caviomorph lineage Octodontoidea (Rodentia: Hystricognathi)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 63 (2): 417–429. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2012.01.020. PMID   22327013.
  5. ↑ Fabre, Pierre-Henri; Galewski, Thomas; Tilak, Marie-ka; Douzery, Emmanuel J. P. (2013-03-01). "Diversification of South American spiny rats (Echimyidae): a multigene phylogenetic approach". Zoologica Scripta. 42 (2): 117–134. doi:10.1111/j.1463-6409.2012.00572.x. ISSN   1463-6409.
  6. ↑ Loss, Ana; Moura, Raquel T.; Leite, Yuri L. R. (2014). "Unexpected phylogenetic relationships of the painted tree rat Callistomys pictus (Rodentia: Echimyidae)" (PDF). Natureza on Line. 12: 132–136.
  7. ↑ Fabre, Pierre-Henri; Vilstrup, Julia T.; Raghavan, Maanasa; Der Sarkissian, Clio; Willerslev, Eske; Douzery, Emmanuel J. P.; Orlando, Ludovic (2014-07-01). "Rodents of the Caribbean: origin and diversification of hutias unravelled by next-generation museomics". Biology Letters. 10 (7): 20140266. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2014.0266. ISSN   1744-9561. PMC   4126619 . PMID   25115033.
  8. ↑ Upham, Nathan S.; Patterson, Bruce D. (2015). "Evolution of Caviomorph rodents: a complete phylogeny and timetree for living genera". In Vassallo, Aldo Ivan; Antenucci, Daniel (eds.). Biology of caviomorph rodents: diversity and evolution. Buenos Aires: SAREM Series A, Mammalogical Research — Sociedad Argentina para el Estudio de los Mamíferos. pp. 63–120.
  9. ↑ Fabre, Pierre-Henri; Upham, Nathan S.; Emmons, Louise H.; Justy, Fabienne; Leite, Yuri L. R.; Loss, Ana Carolina; Orlando, Ludovic; Tilak, Marie-Ka; Patterson, Bruce D.; Douzery, Emmanuel J. P. (2017-03-01). "Mitogenomic Phylogeny, Diversification, and Biogeography of South American Spiny Rats". Molecular Biology and Evolution. 34 (3): 613–633. doi: 10.1093/molbev/msw261 . ISSN   0737-4038. PMID   28025278.
  10. ↑ Pine, R. H.; Pine, N. E.; Bruner, S. D. (1981). "Mammalia". In Hurlbert, Stuart H.; Rodríguez, Gilberto; dos Santos, Newton Dias (eds.). Aquatic biota of tropical South America: being a compilation of taxonomic bibliographies for the fauna and flora of inland waters of the tropical portion of South America. San Diego: San Diego State University. pp. 267–298.
  11. 1 2 Patton, James L. (1987). "Species groups of spiny rats, genus Proechimys (Rodentia: Echimyidae)". Fieldiana: Zoology, Studies in Neotropical Mammalogy: Essays in Honor of Philip Hershkovitz. 39: 305–345. ISSN   0015-0754.
  12. 1 2 Da Silva, Maria Nazareth F. (1998). "Four New species of spiny rats of the genus Proechimys (Rodentia : Echimyidae) from the Western Amazon of Brazil". Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. 111: 436–471. ISSN   0006-324X.
  13. 1 2 3 Patton, James L.; Leite, Rafael N. (2015-03-09). "Genus Proechimys J. A. Allen, 1899". In Patton, James L.; Pardiñas, Ulyses F. J.; D’Elía, Guillermo (eds.). Mammals of South America, Volume 2: Rodents. University of Chicago Press. pp. 950–989. ISBN   9780226169606.
  14. 1 2 Lord, Rexford D. (2007-01-30). Mammals of South America. Baltimore (MD): Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 173. ISBN   9780801884948.
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