Brazilian Porcupine

description

Description of the neotype. External — Body measurements: HB = 460 mm, TL = 400 mm, HF = 76 mm, EL = 28 mm. Weight = 2,720 grams. Tricolored quills on the top of head yellowish white basally, black in the middle, and white or whitish yellow distally. Thin, black and sparse hairs concealed under 5 – 20 mm long quills. Quills short (2 – 12 mm) around the eyes and muzzle, slightly longer (19 mm) on cheeks, whitish basally and distally, and black in the middle (Fig. 3 C). Coarse hairs around nose short and brownish; slightly longer pelage on the chin. Mystacial vibrissae long and black, some extending well beyond the shoulder (120 mm). Subocular and supraorbital vibrissae 48 – 95 mm; genal vibrissae 44 – 82 mm; shorter submental vibrissae present. Bulbous muzzle very large (ca. 50 x 50 x 30 mm), soft and pinkish in the live animal. Conspicuously rounded ears nearly naked, covered with minute hairs; very short (10 mm) quills (either completely white, or black basally and white distally) around the tragus. Dorsal body surface densely covered with long quills (37 – 83 mm), gradually longer from shoulder to rump; with thin and sparse black hairs concealed underneath. Three patterns of quil

Designation of a neotype for the Brazilian porcupine, Coendou prehensilis (Linnaeus, 1758)

distribution

Distribution. According to Cabrera (1961), the distribution of the nominotypical subspecies is eastern Venezuela, the Guianas, and eastern Brazil. Given that specimens from Surinam described by Husson (1978) match our description of the neotype (see below), we believe this is a good approximation of the geographic range of C. prehensilis. Woods & Kilpatrick (2005) extended the distribution of C. prehensilis westward to central Brazil, northern Argentina, eastern Paraguay, and Bolivia, but current data do not allow us to establish the western limits of its distribution, especially given that similar species probably occur in west-central Brazil (see below). Only a comprehensive taxonomic revision of the genus will shed light on the geographic range of C. prehensilis and congeners.

Designation of a neotype for the Brazilian porcupine, Coendou prehensilis (Linnaeus, 1758)

materials_examined

Type locality. Mata Xanguá, Usina Trapiche, municipality of Sirinhaém, state of Pernambuco, Brazil, 8 ° 38 ' 50 " S 35 ° 10 ' 15 " W, elevation 100 m (Fig. 4). This area is in the Pernambuco Endemism Center (herein CEPE), the biogeographical unit of the Brazilian Atlantic forest located north of the São Francisco River in northeastern Brazil, which encompasses the states of Rio Grande do Norte, Paraíba, Pernambuco and Alagoas. The CEPE comprises an important endemism center in South America, housing numerous endemic species (sensu Prance 1982, 1987; Silva & Casteletti 2003), suggesting it is a hotspot within a hotspot, the Pernambuco refugium (Punde et al. 2008; Carnaval & Moritz 2009), a world priority for biodiversity conservation, and one of the most important hotspot on the planet (Myers et al. 2000). Usina Trapiche mill is one of the various scenarios of the 2 % of what was left of the entire CEPE. It comprises an isolated archipelago of 5,202 ha of hundreds of small, irregular, impacted and isolated Atlantic forest fragments surrounded by a sugar-cane matrix. Mata Xanguá is the largest forest fragment (469.76 ha) of Usina Trapiche mill and is highly irregular shaped (shape in

Designation of a neotype for the Brazilian porcupine, Coendou prehensilis (Linnaeus, 1758)

activity

Activity patterns. Brazilian Porcupines are arboreal and nocturnal. They are often immobile and difficult to spot. They rest diurnally in retreats in hollow trees or in shady locations in the forest subcanopy. They are surprisingly agile and climb quickly.

Erethizontidae