Andean porcupine

Andean porcupine
Conservation status
Data Deficient  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Rodentia
Family:	Erethizontidae
Genus:	Coendou
Species:	C. quichua
Binomial name
Coendou quichua Thomas, 1899

The Andean porcupine (Coendou quichua) is a species of rodent in the family Erethizontidae. It is known from the Andes of Ecuador as well as from the Cordillera Oriental of northeastern Colombia near San Vicente de Chucurí.^[1] Although it is morphologically distinctive, it has sometimes been described as a subspecies of C. bicolor.^[2][3] This porcupine is little known, but is probably arboreal, nocturnal and solitary like its relatives.^[1] The species is thought to be uncommon to rare and the population decreasing. It is threatened by deforestation, habitat fragmentation and agriculture.^[1]

References

1. Tirira, D., Boada, C. & Delgado, C. (2008). Coendou quichua. In: IUCN 2008. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Retrieved 18 August 2009.
2. Woods, C.A.; Kilpatrick, C.W. (2005). "Infraorder Hystricognathi". In Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M. Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 1547. ISBN 978-0-8018-8221-0. OCLC 62265494.
3. Voss, R. S. (2003-12-09). "A New Species of Thomasomys (Rodentia: Muridae) from Eastern Ecuador, with Remarks on Mammalian Diversity and Biogeography in the Cordillera Oriental" (PDF). American Museum Novitates (American Museum of Natural History) 3421: 1–47. doi:10.1206/0003-0082(2003)421<0001:ANSOTR>2.0.CO;2. Retrieved 2009-08-07.