Echimys
Genus of mammals belonging to the spiny rat family of rodents
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Echimys is a genus of the spiny rats family, the Echimyidae.[1][3] Members of this genus are collectively called spiny tree-rats.
| Echimys Temporal range: Pleistocene to Recent | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Echimys chrysurus | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Mammalia |
| Order: | Rodentia |
| Family: | Echimyidae |
| Subfamily: | Echimyinae |
| Tribe: | Echimyini |
| Genus: | Echimys F. Cuvier, 1809[1] |
| Type species | |
| Myoxus chrysurus Zimmermann, 1780 | |
| Species | |
 | |
| Echimys distribution E. chrysurus in red, E. vieirai in blue, E. saturnus in green | |
| Synonyms | |
|
Echinomys Wagner, 1840[2] | |
The genus name Echimys, and also its synonym Echinomys,[2] derive from Ancient Greek ἐχῖνος (ekhînos), meaning "hedgehog", and μῦς (mûs), meaning "rat, mouse".[4][5]
Classification
The genus contains three extant species
- White-faced spiny tree-rat - Echimys chrysurus
- Dark spiny tree-rat - Echimys saturnus
- Vieira's spiny tree-rat - Echimys vieirai
Members of the genera Callistomys, Makalata, Pattonomys, and Phyllomys were all formerly considered part of the genus Echimys.
Distribution
The members of genus Echimys are all found in northern South America, though both the dark spiny tree-rat (Echimys saturnus) and Vieira's spiny tree-rat (E. vieirai) have smaller extents of occurrence than does the white-faced spiny tree-rat (E. chrysurus).[6] E. saturnus is found in the foothills and lowlands of Ecuador and northern Peru,[7] while E. vieirai is only known from the Amazonas and Pará states of Brazil, south of the Amazon River.[8]
Phylogeny
Echimys is the sister genus to Phyllomys, and then to Makalata. These taxa are closely related to the genera Pattonomys and Toromys. In turn, these five genera share phylogenetic affinities with a clade containing the bamboo rats Dactylomys, Olallamys, Kannabateomys together with Diplomys and Santamartamys.[9]
| Genus-level cladogram of the Echimyini. |
| The cladogram has been reconstructed from mitochondrial and nuclear DNA characters.[10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][9] |