Coendou Lacépède, 1799 . Tabi. Mamm., p. 11.

TYPE SPECIES: Hystrix prehensilis Linnaeus, 1758 .

COMMENTS: Cabrera (1961:600), Walker et al. (1975:1012), Hall (1981:853), Emmons and Feer (1990), Corbet and Hill (1991:200), and Handley and Pine (1992) included Sphiggurus in Coendou; but see Husson (1978:484-490). Woods (1984) and Nowak (1991) followed Husson and recognized Sphiggurus as distinct from Coendou. Includes C. sp. nov. (Black Dwarf Porcupine) of Emmons and Feer (1990: 199) which is "presumably the same species as" C. koopntani (see Handley and Pine, 1992:237).