page_title: List of mammals of South America
section_title: Order: Rodentia (rodents)
hierarchical_section_title: List of mammals of South America / Subclass: Theria / Infraclass: Eutheria / Superorder: Euarchontoglires / Order: Rodentia (rodents)
caption_attribution_description: Cavia magna (Ximenez et al., 1980) Latina: Cavia magna Français&#160;: Espèce animale&#160;: Grand cochon de Guinée (zoo de Wrocław). English: Animal species: Greater Guinea Pig (Wrocław zoo) Polski: Kawia Wielka (Ogród Zoologiczny we Wrocławiu) Deutsch: Sumpfmeerschweinchen (Zoologischer Garten Breslau)
context_page_description: This is a list of the native wild mammal species recorded in South America. South America's terrestrial mammals fall into three distinct groups: "old-timers", African immigrants and recent North American immigrants. The marsupials and xenarthrans are "old-timers", their ancestors having been present on the continent since at least the very early Cenozoic Era. During the early Cenozoic, South America's only land connection was to Antarctica, so it was effectively cut off from most of the world; as the fragments of Gondwana continued to separate, this connection was lost, leaving South America an island continent. Caviomorph rodents and monkeys arrived as "waif dispersers" by rafting across the Atlantic from Africa in the Eocene epoch, 35 million or more years ago. All the remaining nonflying mammals of South America are recent arrivals, having migrated from North America via Central America during the past seven million years as part of the Great American Interchange; this invasion, which peaked around three million years ago, was made possible when the formation of the volcanic Isthmus of Panama bridged North and South America.
context_section_description: Rodents make up the largest order of mammals, with over 40% of mammalian species. They have two incisors in the upper and lower jaw which grow continually and must be kept short by gnawing. Most rodents are small, although the capybara can weigh up to 45 kg (100 lb). South America's rodent fauna today is largely an outgrowth of two spectacularly fortunate ancient "sweepstakes" dispersal events, each of which was followed by explosive diversification. Caviomorphs, the first rodents to reach the continent, are believed to have washed ashore after rafting across the Atlantic from Africa over 30 million years ago. More recently, ancestral sigmodontine rodents apparently island-hopped from Central America 5 million or more years ago, prior to the formation of the Panamanian land bridge. These two groups now comprise 36% and 60%, respectively, of all South American rodent species. The corresponding figures are 10% and 27% for Central America, 2% and 10% for Mexico, 0.5% and 3% for North America north of Mexico, and 72% and 27% for recent endemic Caribbean rodents. Conversely, sciurids make up 3% of rodents in South America, 8% in Central America, 15% in Mexico and 31% in North America north of Mexico, while castorimorphs are 1%, 16%, 26% and 28%, respectively. Sciurids are absent from South America's southern cone, while castorimorphs are only present in northwest South America (Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador). Illustrating the advantage of gaining a head start in colonizing a new land mass, sigmodontine rodents comprise 99.5% of all cricetid rodents in South America, but only 42% in Central America, 17% in Mexico and 7% in North America north of Mexico.
  Suborder: Hystricomorpha
  Parvorder Caviomorpha
  Family: Erethizontidae (New World porcupines)
  Subfamily: Chaetomyinae
  Genus: Chaetomys
  Bristle-spined rat, Chaetomys subspinosus VU
  Subfamily: Erethizontinae
  Genus: Coendou
  Baturite porcupine, Coendou baturitensis
  Bicolored-spined porcupine, Coendou bicolor LC
  Streaked dwarf porcupine, Coendou ichillus DD
  Bahia porcupine, Coendou insidiosus LC
  Black-tailed hairy dwarf porcupine, Coendou melanurus LC
  Black dwarf porcupine, Coendou nycthemera DD
  Brazilian porcupine, Coendou prehensilis LC
  Frosted hairy dwarf porcupine, Coendou pruinosus LC
  Andean porcupine, Coendou quichua DD
  Roosmalen's dwarf porcupine, Coendou roosmalenorum DD
  Rothschild's porcupine, Coendou rothschildi DD
  Stump-tailed porcupine, Coendou rufescens LC
  Santa Marta porcupine, Coendou sanctamartae DD
  Dwarf porcupine, Coendou speratus EN
  Paraguaian hairy dwarf porcupine, Coendou spinosus LC
  Brown hairy dwarf porcupine, Coendou vestitus DD
  Family: Chinchillidae (viscachas and chinchillas)
  Genus: Chinchilla
  Short-tailed chinchilla, Chinchilla chinchilla CR
  Long-tailed chinchilla, Chinchilla lanigera CR
  Genus: Lagidium
  Lagidium ahuacaense
  Northern viscacha, Lagidium peruanum LC
  Southern viscacha, Lagidium viscacia LC
  Wolffsohn's viscacha, Lagidium wolffsohni DD
  Genus: Lagostomus
  Plains viscacha, Lagostomus maximus LC
  Family: Dinomyidae (pacarana)
  Genus: Dinomys
  Pacarana, Dinomys branickii VU
  Family: Caviidae (guinea pigs and cavies)
  Subfamily: Caviinae
  Genus: Cavia
  Brazilian guinea pig, Cavia aperea LC
  Shiny guinea pig, Cavia fulgida LC
  Santa Catarina's guinea pig, Cavia intermedia CR
  Greater guinea pig, Cavia magna LC
  Montane guinea pig, Cavia tschudii LC
  Genus: Galea
  Southern highland yellow-toothed cavy, Galea comes DD
  Brazilian yellow-toothed cavy, Galea flavidens LC
  Lowland yellow-toothed cavy, Galea leucoblephara LC
  Common yellow-toothed cavy, Galea musteloides LC
  Muenster yellow-toothed cavy, Galea m. monasteriensis NE
  Spix's yellow-toothed cavy, Galea spixii LC
  Genus: Microcavia
  Southern mountain cavy, Microcavia australis LC
  Andean mountain cavy, Microcavia niata LC
  Shipton's mountain cavy, Microcavia shiptoni NT
  Subfamily: Dolichotinae
  Genus: Dolichotis
  Patagonian mara, Dolichotis patagonum NT
  Chacoan mara, Dolichotis salinicola LC
  Subfamily: Hydrochoerinae (capybaras and rock cavies)
  Genus: Hydrochoerus
  Capybara, Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris LC
  Lesser capybara, H
caption: Greater guinea pig
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "SONY", "Image Model": "DSC-H5", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2007:12:02 12:49:12", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "256", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 51, 48, 48, 0, 0, 2, 0, 2, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Make": "SONY", "Thumbnail Model": "DSC-H5", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail DateTime": "2007:12:02 12:49:12", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "2952", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "14563", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/8", "EXIF FNumber": "7/2", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "320", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2007:12:02 12:49:12", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2007:12:02 12:49:12", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "8", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "18", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3072", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2304", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "2746", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal"}