The gray-footed spiny rat (''Proechimys poliopus'') is a species of
rodent
Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the order Rodentia (), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are rodents. They are n ...
in the family
Echimyidae
Echimyidae is the family of neotropical spiny rats and their fossil relatives. This is the most species-rich family of hystricognath rodents. It is probably also the most ecologically diverse, with members ranging from fully arboreal to terr ...
.
It is found in
Colombia and
Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
.
Phylogeny
Morphological characters and mitochondrial cytochrome b DNA sequences showed that ''P. poliopus'' belongs to the so-called ''trinitatus'' group of ''Proechimys'' species, and shares closer phylogenetic affinities with the other members of this clade: ''
P. trinitatus'', ''
P. mincae'', ''
P. guairae'', ''
P. magdalenae'', ''
P. chrysaeolus'', ''
P. urichi'', and ''
P. hoplomyoides''.
References
Proechimys
Mammals of Colombia
Mammals of Venezuela
Mammals described in 1914
Taxa named by Wilfred Hudson Osgood
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot
Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN
{{Echimyidae-stub