Coendou spinosus
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 spinosus

description: 9.
Paraguayan Hairy Dwart Porcupine
Coendou spinosus
French: Coendou épineux / German: Paraguay-Greifstachler / Spanish: Puercoespin de Paraguay
Other common names: Paraguay Hairy Dwarf Porcupine, Spiny Tree Porcupine
Taxonomy. Sphiggure spinosa F. Cuvier, 1823,
no type locality given. Resrticted by R. S. Voss in 2011 to “Sapucai, Paraguari, Paraguay” (by neotype selection).
Previously recognized as Sphiggurus spinosus by several authors and also under synonyms S. affinis, S. nigricans, S. paragayensis, S. roberti, and S. sericeus. Lack of diagnosable characters led Voss in 2011 to combine Sphiggurus with Coendou. L.. H. Emmons in 1997 recognized a separate species, C. paragayensis, but in his 2011 revision, Voss combined C. paragayensis and C. villosus (the “Orange-spined Hairy Dwarf Porcupine”) with C. spinosus. Subsequent phylogenetic analysis using cytochrome-b sequence data revealed C. spinosus as the sister taxon to a clade including C. bicolor and C. nycthemera, with C. insidiosus as a likely close relative. Monotypic.
Distribution. SE Brazil (from Minas Gerais and Espirito Santo S to Mato Grosso do Sul and Rio Grande do Sul states), E Paraguay (recorded along the Rio Tebicuary), N Uraguay, and NW Argentina (Misiones Province).
Descriptive notes. Head-body 239-547 mm, tail 200-378 mm, ear 11-25 mm, hindfoot 46-70 mm; weight 1 kg. The Paraguayan Hairy Dwarf Porcupine is a small blondish to gray-brown porcupine that shows a great deal of geographical variation in appearance. Except on head, most individuals have long fur of bicolored hairs that are blackish at base with pale grayish, orangish, or yellowish tips covering body. Feet are colored similarly. This long fur conceals underlying quills. In other individuals, fur is sparse and lies over quills in scattered tufts; a few skins completely lack long fur and appear entirely spiny. Pelage of the Paraguayan Hairy Dwarf Porcupine includes a mix of long (55-80 mm) tricolored spines, intermingled with shorter bicolored spines over most of the dorsal surface. Tricolored spines on head and shoulder are yellow at their bases and have black centers and orange tips. Spines on rump are bicolored, pale at bases with short black tips, whereas stiff bristles on underside oftail, also bicolored, are blackish at bases with yellowish or orange tips. Tails can be short or long, with lengths 40-100% of head-body lengths. Tail is rusty orange on lateral and ventral sides near its base, and last 100 mm of dorsal side oftail is naked. Head is round, with long, bicolored mystacial whiskers, blackish at bases and yellowish near tips, which reach behind ears. Frontal sinuses of the Paraguayan Hairy Dwarf Porcupine are not inflated and dorsal roof of external auditory meatus on skull is smooth. Orange spines are visible on head. Ventrum is thickly or thinly furred, with no spines. Young Paraguayan Hairy Dwarf Porcupines are covered with reddish hair. In general, Brazilian specimens are modestly larger than those from Paraguay, and hair pigments from more northern localities are more saturated than those of more southern localities. Individuals from Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo usually have orange-tipped tricolored quills and orange-highlighted fur, washed with pale yellow dorsally and pale gray ventrally.
Habitat. Humid tropical and subtropical forests of Brazilian Atlantic Forest and riparian forest of the Rio Tebicuary in Paraguay from sea level to 1150 m. One Paraguayan Hairy Dwarf Porcupine was found in an artificial prairie, 300 m from an adjacent riparian forest.
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. CITES Appendix III. Classified as Least Concern on The IUCN Red List (as Sphiggurus spinosus and S. villosus). Less than 20% ofthe likely habitat of the Paraguayan Hairy Dwarf Porcupine in Brazil is protected.
Bibliography. Azevedo-Ramos et al. (2006), Caldara & Leite (2012), D'Elia et al. (2008), Eisenberg & Redford (1999), Emmons (1997a), Voss (2011, 2015), Voss et al. (2013), Wilson & Reeder (2005).
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 378, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.6603219