Coendou quichua Thomas 1899

6. Quichua Porcupine Coendou quichua French: Coendou des Andes / German: Rothschild-Greifstachler / Spanish: Puercoespin quichua Other common names: Andean Porcupine, Rothschild’s Porcupine Taxonomy. Coendou quichua Thomas, 1899, “Puembo, Upper Guallabamba River, Province of Pichincha, Ecuador; altitude about 2500 metres.” In the past, C. quichua has been recognized as a subspecies of C. bicolor, but a set of conspicuous differences in phenotype warrants its recognition as a separate species. Furthermore, specimens from Panama were separately recognized as C. rothschildi but are phenotypically similar. Thus, it appears that C. quichuais a widespread and geographically variable species. Phylogenetic analysis of cytochrome-b sequence data places C. quichua as the sister species to C. rufescens and as part of a clade that includes C. mexicanus. Monotypic. Distribution. E Panama, trans-Andean Colombia, and NW Ecuador. Descriptive notes. Head—body 332-438 mm, tail 260-413 mm, ear 23-26 mm, hindfoot 61-78 mm; weight 2-3 kg. The Quichua Porcupine is medium-sized and salt-andpepper colored; it appears spiny because of a lack of emergent fur. Dorsum is blackish and uniformly speckled as a result of bicolored (whitish basally and black distally) and longer tricolored (whitish at base, black medially, with whitish tips) spines. Frontal sinuses are not or are only slightly inflated, and roof of external auditory meatus usually has well-developed transverse bony ridge. Tail lengths are 55-90% of head—body lengths. Tail is black, or speckled black, and white, with white on sides and appearing black ventrally. Spines of young Quichua Porcupines are covered by soft hair. There is geographical variation in appearance. Most Quichua Porcupines in Panama are more strongly speckled with white due to white-tipped dorsal spines, but some Panamanian specimens have so few white-tipped quills that they appear black. Quichua Porcupines from eastern Panama have brown-tipped dorsal quills. Panamanian specimens also have more inflated nasal sinuses, wider nasal apertures, and relatively smaller premolars. A few Quichua Porcupines from Ecuador are mostly blackish dorsally, lacking many pale-tipped quills, but most Ecuadorian specimens have cream, buffy, or brown-tipped dorsal quills. Quichua Porcupines from Ecuador also have much shorter tails (averaging c¢.55% of head-body length) than Panamanian specimens (c.85-90% head-body length), smaller hindfeet, and much narrower nasal apertures. Geographical variation may relate to the fact that most Ecuadorian specimens are from montane localities (above 2000 m) while most Panamanian specimens are from lowlands and foothills. Two Quichua Porcupines from Colombia differ from all others by having smooth roof of external auditory meatus. Habitat..owland evergreen forests, secondary forests, and cultivated areas from sea level to elevations of ¢.3300 m. Food and Feeding. Quichua Porcupines eat fruit and probably leaves. Breeding. There is no information available for this species. Activity patterns. There is no specific information available for this species, but the Quichua Porcupines is probably nocturnal and arboreal. Movements, Home range and Social organization. There is no information available for this species. Status and Conservation. Classified as Data Deficient (as C. quichua) and Least Concern (as C. rothschildi) on The IUCN Red List. Bibliography. Emmons (1997a), Voss (2011, 2015), Voss et al. (2013).
Published as part of Don E. Wilson, Thomas E. Lacher, Jr & Russell A. Mittermeier, 2016, Erethizontidae, pp. 372-397 in Handbook of the Mammals of the World – Volume 6 Lagomorphs and Rodents I, Barcelona :Lynx Edicions on page 377, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.6603219