''Thrichomys'' is a genus of

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 ...

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 na ...

s 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 terres ...

. It contains at least five species, found in

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

. They are as follows: * Common punaré (''Thrichomys apereoides'') * Foster's punaré (''Thrichomys fosteri)'' * Highlands punaré (''Thrichomys inermis'') * Sao Lourenço punaré (''Thrichomys laurentius'') * Paraguayan punaré (''Thrichomys pachyurus'')

Phylogeny

The closest relatives of the genus ''Thrichomys'' are two

clade A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...

s consisting of pairs of

Myocastorini Myocastorini is a tribe of echimyid rodents, proposed in 2017, and containing the five extant genera ''Callistomys'', ''Hoplomys'', ''Myocastor'', ''Proechimys'', and ''Thrichomys ''Thrichomys'' is a genus of South American rodents in the fam ...

genera: ''Callistomys'' (the painted tree-rat) and ''Myocastor'' (the coypu or nutria) in one clade, and ''Hoplomys'' (the armored rat) and ''Proechimys'' in the other.

References

Taxa named by Édouard Louis Trouessart Rodent genera {{Echimyidae-stub