Filling distribution gaps: first record of the Western Amazonian Dwarf Porcupine, Coendou ichillus Voss & Da Silva, 2001 (Mammalia, Rodentia), in the Napo Moist Forests ecoregion of Colombia

Abstract

The Western Amazonian Dwarf Porcupine, Coendou ichillus Voss & Da Silva, 2001, is poorly known in South America. The species is known only from eight localities in the Amazon and Orinoquia regions of Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. In Colombia, it is known from one locality in the Orinoquía region, based on a specimen collected in 1956. We present a new distribution record which adds information about the presence of C. ichillus in the Napo Moist Forests ecoregion, in the Department of Putumayo, Amazon region of Colombia. We suggest that C. ichillus is more widely distributed in the Amazon region of the country. However, based on the number of known records to date, C. ichillus is the rarest species of porcupine.

First record of Brazilian Porcupine, Coendou prehensilis (Linnaeus, 1758) (Rodentia, Erethizontidae), from the Humid Chaco of Paraguay

“…Finally, this new record underscores the paucity of detailed and current information on the distribution and ecology of South American porcupines and of caviomorph rodents in general, which are often underrepresented in biological inventories (Owen et al 2018;Ramírez-Chaves et al 2020;Pardiñas et al 2021a). We urge biologists and environmental managers to focus more attention on these understudied but ecologically important medium-sized mammalian herbivores.…”

“…Most caviomorph rodents are often overlooked because they are neither small enough to enter common rodent traps nor large enough to be "charismatic" species, and members of Erethizontidae exemplify this paucity of information (D'Elía et al 2008). Thus, detailed current information on the distribution and ecology of South American caviomorph rodents is generally scarce, and porcupines in particular (Owen et al 2018;Ramírez-Chaves 2020;Pardiñas et al 2021a).…”

New records of mammals of the Coffee Region, Central Andes of Colombia using citizen science

“…Furthermore, we obtained photo-vouchers and videos donated by local people and CHEC staff taken at the study area between 2014 and 2019 pre-and post-workshops. We used the photographs to complete the information on the mammal species of the study area, a technique that has been also implemented in other studies to obtain additional data on mammals from Colombia (Ramírez-Chaves et al 2020a, 2020bTorres-Martínez et al 2020).…”

Phylogenetic relationships, distribution, and conservation of Roosmalens’ dwarf porcupine, Coendou roosmalenorum Voss & da Silva, 2001 (Rodentia, Erethizontidae)

“…Since the early 1990s, studies have clarified the taxonomic status and phylogenetic relationships among species of Coendou ( Handley and Pine 1992 ; Voss and Angermann 1997 ; Voss and da Silva 2001 ; Voss 2011 ; Feijó and Langguth 2013 ; Mendes Pontes et al 2013 ; Voss et al 2013 ), as well as its subgeneric classification (e.g., Menezes et al 2021 ). Additionally, knowledge of the distribution and natural history of Coendou species has advanced (e.g., Freitas et al 2013 ; Gregory et al 2015 ; Menezes et al 2020 ; Ramírez-Chaves et al 2020a ).…”