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Richness and distribution of porcupines (Erethizontidae: Coendou) from Colombia

  • Héctor E. Ramírez-Chaves EMAIL logo , Andrés Felipe Suárez-Castro , Darwin M. Morales-Martínez and María Camila Vallejo-Pareja
Published/Copyright: January 30, 2015
Mammalia
From the journal Mammalia Volume 80 Issue 2

Abstract

In spite of previous reviews, there is still no consensus on the information associated to the richness of the genus Coendou in Colombia. To clarify some issues concerning the distribution and the taxonomic identity of the species of Coendou in the country, we reviewed specimens from five natural history collections. We introduce the first record of Coendou ichillus from the Orinoco river basin of the country, extending the distribution of the species by more than 600 km to the north from previous known localities in Ecuador and Peru. Additionally, we present new records of C. pruinosus and C. quichua from the Amazonia and inter-Andean valleys, respectively. Only one skull presents the diagnostic characters of C. bicolor; thus, previous records of this species for the country were based on misidentifications. Coendou is distributed in seven of the nine geographic provinces of Colombia. Coendouprehensilis was found in five provinces and is expected to be present in the Amazonia, whereas C. pruinosus was documented in three provinces (North Andean, Orinoco and Guyana). The rest of the species of Coendou were distributed in one or two provinces. The richest provinces were North Andean and Orinoco with six and four Coendou species, respectively. The elevational ranges of C. prehensilis and C. pruinosus are revised to 0–1975 and 90–2200 m, respectively.

Keywords: Amazonas region; distribution; Hystricomorpha; morphology; range extension
Corresponding author: Héctor E. Ramírez-Chaves, Weisbecker Lab, School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, Goddard Building 8, St. Lucia 4072, Brisbane, Australia, e-mail:

Acknowledgments

We thank Hugo López-Arévalo (ICN), María del Pilar Rivas Pava (MHNUC), Michael Hiermeier (ZSM), Jose Gregorio Moreno and Martha Patricia Ramírez (UIS), and Fabio Forero and Arturo Gonzalez (IAvH) for allowing us to review specimens under their care. Robert S. Voss (AMNH) provided important information and measurements of Coendouquichua from Colombia. Juan P. López-Ordoñez provided photographs of one individual of C. prehensilis from Guaviare, and Miguel Rodríguez-Posada provided photographs of specimens at UV collections. Payal Bal reviewed an early version of this work. MCVP thanks Carlos Jaramillo (STRI), Christine D. Bacon (University of Gothenburg), Jorge Hernández (UIS), and Manuel Paez-Reyes for their support. This work was partially supported by the UQCent and UQI Scholarships of the University of Queensland (to HER-C), and COLCIENCIAS PhD Scholarships (to AFSC).

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Supplemental Material

The online version of this article (DOI: 10.1515/mammalia-2014-0158) offers supplementary material, available to authorized users.

Received: 2014-10-22
Accepted: 2014-12-23
Published Online: 2015-1-30
Published in Print: 2016-3-1

©2016 by De Gruyter

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Review
  3. The wild goat, Capra aegagrus Erxleben, 1777, of the island of Montecristo (Northern Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy): does it still exist?
  4. Original Studies
  5. Trophic relationships of sympatric small carnivores in fragmented landscapes of southern Brazil: niche overlap and potential for competition
  6. Dietary adaptation of white-headed langurs in a fragmented limestone habitat
  7. Winter foraging of chinkara (Gazella bennettii shikarii) in Central Iran
  8. Null model analysis on bat species co-occurrence and nestedness patterns in a region of the Atlantic Rainforest, Brazil
  9. Richness and distribution of porcupines (Erethizontidae: Coendou) from Colombia
  10. The level of rodent problems in poultry farms of Rawalpindi-Islamabad, Pakistan
  11. Survival and recruitment of the multimammate mouse, Mastomys natalensis (Smith 1834), in a rice agro-ecosystem
  12. New records of Cryptonanus guahybae (Tate, 1931) in southern Brazil inferred from molecular and morphological data
  13. Short Notes
  14. The wild goat of Montecristo Island: did it ever exist?
  15. First record of a bat from the Lakshadweep archipelago, southwestern India
  16. Status of pinnipeds in Southeast Asia
  17. Breeding habits of the Indian pangolin (Manis crassicaudata) in Potohar Plateau, Pakistan
  18. Litter size and basic diet of brown bears (Ursus arctos, Carnivora) in northeastern Turkey
https://doi.org/10.1515/mammalia-2014-0158
Keywords for this article
Amazonas region; distribution; Hystricomorpha; morphology; range extension

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Review
  3. The wild goat, Capra aegagrus Erxleben, 1777, of the island of Montecristo (Northern Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy): does it still exist?
  4. Original Studies
  5. Trophic relationships of sympatric small carnivores in fragmented landscapes of southern Brazil: niche overlap and potential for competition
  6. Dietary adaptation of white-headed langurs in a fragmented limestone habitat
  7. Winter foraging of chinkara (Gazella bennettii shikarii) in Central Iran
  8. Null model analysis on bat species co-occurrence and nestedness patterns in a region of the Atlantic Rainforest, Brazil
  9. Richness and distribution of porcupines (Erethizontidae: Coendou) from Colombia
  10. The level of rodent problems in poultry farms of Rawalpindi-Islamabad, Pakistan
  11. Survival and recruitment of the multimammate mouse, Mastomys natalensis (Smith 1834), in a rice agro-ecosystem
  12. New records of Cryptonanus guahybae (Tate, 1931) in southern Brazil inferred from molecular and morphological data
  13. Short Notes
  14. The wild goat of Montecristo Island: did it ever exist?
  15. First record of a bat from the Lakshadweep archipelago, southwestern India
  16. Status of pinnipeds in Southeast Asia
  17. Breeding habits of the Indian pangolin (Manis crassicaudata) in Potohar Plateau, Pakistan
  18. Litter size and basic diet of brown bears (Ursus arctos, Carnivora) in northeastern Turkey
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