The prehensile-tailed porcupines or coendous (genus ''Coendou'') are found in

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

. Two other formerly recognized

Neotropical The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In bioge ...

tree porcupine genera, ''Echinoprocta'' and ''Sphiggurus'', have been subsumed into ''Coendou'', since ''Sphiggurus'' was shown by genetic studies to be

polyphyletic A polyphyletic group is an assemblage of organisms or other evolving elements that is of mixed evolutionary origin. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as homoplasies, which are explained as a result of converg ...

, while ''Echinoprocta'' nested within ''Coendou''.

Characteristics

Among the most notable features of ''Coendou'' porcupines are their unspined

prehensile Prehensility is the quality of an appendage or organ (anatomy), organ that has Adaptation (biology), adapted for grasping or holding. The word is derived from the Latin term ''prehendere'', meaning "to grasp". The ability to grasp is likely der ...

tails. The front and hind feet are also modified for grasping. These limbs all contribute to making this animal an adept climber, an adaptation to living most of their lives in trees. They feed on

leaves A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...

, shoots,

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...

s, bark, roots, and buds. They can be pests of

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

crops. They also make a distinctive "baby-like" sound to communicate in the wild. Their young are born with soft hair that hardens to quills with age. Adults are slow-moving and will roll into a ball when threatened and on the ground. The record

longevity The word " longevity" is sometimes used as a synonym for "life expectancy" in demography. However, the term ''longevity'' is sometimes meant to refer only to especially long-lived members of a population, whereas ''life expectancy'' is always d ...

is 27 years.

Species

*Genus ''Coendou'' - prehensile-tailed porcupines ** Baturite porcupine - ''C. baturitensis'' - a newly discovered species **

Bicolored-spined porcupine The bicolored-spined porcupine (''Coendou bicolor'') is a species of nocturnal and arboreal rodent in the family Erethizontidae. It is found in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. The head and body of ''Coendou bicolor'' measure about 543& ...

- ''C. bicolor'' **

Streaked dwarf porcupine The streaked dwarf porcupine (''Coendou ichillus'') is a porcupine species in the family Erethizontidae. It is known from the lowlands (below an altitude of 400 m) of eastern Ecuador, and may be present in Peru as well. It appears to be nocturna ...

- ''C. ichillus'' **

Bahia porcupine The Bahia porcupine (''Coendou insidiosus''), is a New World porcupine species in the family Erethizontidae endemic to the Atlantic Forest of southeastern Brazil. It was formerly sometimes assigned to ''Sphiggurus'', a genus no longer recognized ...

- ''C. insidiosus'' **

Black-tailed hairy dwarf porcupine The black-tailed hairy dwarf porcupine (''Coendou melanurus'') is a porcupine species from the family Erethizontidae. It is found in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname and Venezuela. This species was formerly sometimes as ...

- ''C. melanurus'' **

Mexican hairy dwarf porcupine The Mexican hairy dwarf porcupine or Mexican tree porcupine (''Coendou mexicanus'') is a species of rodent in the family Erethizontidae. It is found in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Mexico, Nicaragua and Belize.Biodiversi ...

- ''C. mexicanus'' **

Black dwarf porcupine The black dwarf porcupine, also known as Koopman's porcupine (''Coendou nycthemera''), is a porcupine species from the New World porcupine family endemic to northern Brazil. It occurs in the Amazon rainforest east of the Madeira River and south o ...

- ''C. nycthemera'' ** Amazonian long-tailed porcupine - ''C. longicaudatus'' **

Brazilian porcupine The Brazilian porcupine (''Coendou prehensilis'') is a porcupine found in Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, French Guiana, Peru, Paraguay, Suriname, Bolivia and Trinidad, with a single record from Ecuador. It inhabits tropical ...

- ''C. prehensilis'' **

Frosted hairy dwarf porcupine The frosted hairy dwarf porcupine (''Coendou pruinosus'') is a porcupine species in the family Erethizontidae from Colombia and northern and eastern Venezuela. It was formerly sometimes assigned to ''Sphiggurus'', a genus no longer recognized si ...

- ''C. pruinosus'' **

Andean porcupine The Andean porcupine (''Coendou quichua'') or Quichua porcupine is a species of rodent in the family Erethizontidae. It is found in the Andes of northern Ecuador and Colombia as well as in Panama. This porcupine is little known, but is probably ...

- ''C. quichua'' **

Roosmalen's dwarf porcupine Roosmalen's dwarf porcupine (''Coendou roosmalenorum'') is a porcupine species from the New World porcupine family likely endemic to northern Brazil. Only three specimens were known at the time, and only one had a collection locality. It is name ...

- ''C. roosmalenorum'' **

Stump-tailed porcupine The stump-tailed porcupine (''Coendou rufescens'') is a species of rodent in the family Erethizontidae. It is found mainly in Colombia, with a few records from Ecuador. This species was formerly sometimes assigned to ''Echinoprocta'', a genus no ...

- ''C. rufescens'' **

Santa Marta porcupine The Santa Marta porcupine (''Coendou sanctamartae'') is a rodent in the family Erethizontidae. It is known from dry forests on the lower slopes of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (English: ''Snow-Covered Mo ...

- ''C. sanctamartae'' **'' C. speratus'' - a newly discovered species **

Paraguaian hairy dwarf porcupine The Paraguaian hairy dwarf porcupine (''Coendou spinosus'') is a porcupine species from the family Erethizontidae. It is found in Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. They have a short tail and gray brown quills and feed on fruits, ant pupa ...

- ''C. spinosus'' **

Brown hairy dwarf porcupine The brown hairy dwarf porcupine (''Coendou vestitus'') is a species of rodent in the family Erethizontidae. Found in the Andes in Colombia and Venezuela, its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests. It is not easy to stu ...

- ''C. vestitus''

References

* * * {{Authority control Coendou Mammals of Guyana