Family Erethizontidae | Phylum Chordata Genus Coendou | |
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The Paraguaian hairy dwarf porcupine, Coendou spinosus, is a South American 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 pupae, vegetables and roots.
This species was formerly sometimes assigned to Sphiggurus, a genus no longer recognized since genetic studies showed it to be polyphyletic. The population formerly recognized as the orange-spined hairy dwarf porcupine (Sphiggurus villosus) has been reclassified to this species. Its closest relatives are the bicolored-spined porcupine (Coendou bicolor) and the black dwarf porcupine (Coendou nycthemera).
References
Paraguaian hairy dwarf porcupine Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA