Coendou baturitensis
Creators: name: Don E. Wilson
name: Thomas E. Lacher, Jr
name: Russell A. Mittermeier
Publisher: name: Lynx Edicions
Year: 2016
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Chordata
Mammalia
Rodentia
Erethizontidae
Coendou
Coendou baturitensis

description: 12.
Baturite Porcupine
Coendou baturitensis
French: Coendou de Baturité / German: Ceara-Greifstachler / Spanish: Puercoespin de Baturité
Taxonomy. Coendou (Coendow) baturitensis Feljo & Langguth, 2013,
“Community Sitio Barreiros, municipality of Aratuba, Baturite Range, Ceara, Brazil (4° 23’ 30.5” S, 39° 00’ 45.4" W).”
This species is monotypic.
Distribution. E Brazil, only known from Baturité Mts, Ceara State.
Descriptive notes. Head-body 500 mm, tail 460 mm, ear 20 mm, hindfoot 80 mm; weight 3-5 kg. The Baturite Porcupine is medium-sized, densely covered with tricolor spines and lacking emergentfur, resulting in a somewhat salt-and-pepper spiny appearance. Body spines vary in length and thickness from snoutto tail. Long tricolored spines on dorsum are whitish at bases, followed by long intermediate brown bands and dirty white tips. On sides of body, spines are shorter and distinctly darker, due to short basal and distal bands of dirty white color and a long intermediate brown band. Venter and inner regions of limbs are covered with thin, flexible grayish-brown quills. Hard quills cover outer sides of limbs. Hands and feet are covered with stiff hairs rather than quills. Large nose is bulbous and soft. Quills conceal short ears, and short quills are located around eyes and muzzle, with longer quills on cheeks. Mystacial vibrissae are long and black, extending to shoulders. Broad rostrum of the Baturite Porcupine includes strong pneumatization in naso-frontal region, extending to anterior one-half of nasal bones and resulting in uniformly convex dorsal profile. As with other species of Coendou,tail is dorsally prehensile. Tail length is 92% of head-body length (only one individual measured). Upper side of proximate one-half of tail has the same covering of tricolored spines as dorsum. Distally, tail spines become gradually thinner and shorter, disappearing entirely toward tail tip. Upperside oftail is differentiated into thin, transverse bands of calloused skin. Proximal one-half of ventral surface oftail carries short, thin, and flexible quills that decrease in number distally.
Habitat. Caatinga Moist Forest ecoregion.
Food and Feeding. There is no information available for this species.
Breeding. There is no information available for this species.
Activity patterns. There is no information available for this species.
Movements, Home range and Social organization. There is no information available for this species.
Status and Conservation. The Baturite Porcupine has not been assessed on The IUCN Red List, but it appears to have a very restricted distribution in the Baturite Range. Its limited distribution coupled with habitat loss means it is probably at high conservation risk.
Bibliography. Feij6 & Langguth (2013), Hance (2013), Nascimento & dos Santos (2014).
description: Published as part of Don E. Wilson, Thomas E. Lacher, Jr & Russell A. Mittermeier, 2016, Erethizontidae, pp. 372-397 in Handbook of the Mammals of the World – Volume 6 Lagomorphs and Rodents I, Barcelona :Lynx Edicions on page 379, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.6603219