Sentence:  Members of the important Neotropical family Echimyidae, which includes a viety of roughly rat-sized rodents, are called <WSD>spiny rats</WSD>....<WSD>Spiny rats</WSD> are widely distributed in the Neotropics, occurring from Nicaragua southward through the northern half of South America to Paraguay and south-eastern Brazil. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  Any of certain caviomorph rodents of the family Echimyidae, especially of genus "Proechimys", that resemble rats and have stiff, pointed hairs, or spines.