13.

Blackish Hairy Dwarf Porcupine

Coendou vestitus

French: Coendou brun / German: Schwarzbrauner Greifstachler / Spanish: Puercoespin marrén

Other common names: Brown Hairy Dwarf Porcupine

Taxonomy. Coendou vestitus Thomas, 1899,

“Colombia.”

Phylogenetic analysis of cytochrome-b sequence data places C. vestitus in a clade with C. ichillus and C. pruinosus . These three species, together with C. roosmalenorum make up the “ C. vestitus group” and share presence of bristle-quills and soft fur in dorsal pelage. Monotypic.

Distribution. C Colombia, currently known from only two specimens from the W foothills of E Andes Range in Cundinamarca Department but possibly also in the lower E Andean slopes at 1300-2600 m.

Descriptive notes. Head—body 290-370 mm, tail 170-195 mm; no specific data are available for body weight. The Blackish Hairy Dwarf Porcupine is small and medium brown as a result of soft brown hair that covers spines. Two types of spines are present on dorsal pelage. Ordinary defensive quills are up to 37 mm long and pale yellow or whitish basally and, for most of their length, with short brown tips. Bristle-quills emerge through long dorsal fur and are bicolored, pale at their bases, and brown distally, blending almost invisibly with dorsal fur. Emergent fur is lacking on head and face, revealing white-tipped spines that are thick, sharp, and robust. Mystacial vibrissae are fine. Tail is short, with tail length ¢.50% of head-body length. Venter is a warm brown that is somewhat paler than dorsum and is thickly haired and lacks spines. Feet are colored like dorsum.

Habitat. There is no information available for this species.

Food and Feeding. There is no information available for this species.

Breeding. There is no information available for this species.

Activity patterns. There is no information available for this species.

Movements, Home range and Social organization. There is no information available for this species.

Status and Conservation. Classified as Data Deficient on The IUCN Red List (as Sphiggurus vestitus). The Blackish Hairy Dwarf Porcupine is extremely rare and known from only a few individual specimens. The region where specimens were originally collected has been almost entirely deforested.

Bibliography. Emmons (1997a), Voss (2011, 2015), Voss & da Silva (2001), Voss et al. (2013).