View source for Proechimys

{{Short description|Genus of mammals belonging to the spiny rat family of rodents}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| image = Proechimys longicaudatus.jpg
| image_caption = ''Proechimys longicaudatus''
| display_parents = 2
| taxon = Proechimys
| authority = [[Joel Asaph Allen|J. A. Allen]], 1899
| type_species = ''[[Proechimys trinitatus|Echimys trinitatis]]''
| type_species_authority = [[Joel Asaph Allen|J. A. Allen]] & [[Frank Chapman (ornithologist)|Chapman]], 1893
| subdivision_ranks = Species
| subdivision =
''[[Proechimys brevicauda]]''<br />
''[[Proechimys canicollis]]''<br />
''[[Proechimys chrysaeolus]]''<br />
''[[Proechimys cuvieri]]''<br />
''[[Proechimys decumanus]]''<br />
''[[Proechimys echinothrix]]''<br />
''[[Proechimys gardneri]]''<br />
''[[Proechimys goeldii]]''<br />
''[[Proechimys guairae]]''<br />
''[[Proechimys guyannensis]]''<br />
''[[Proechimys hoplomyoides]]''<br />
''[[Proechimys kulinae]]''<br />
''[[Proechimys longicaudatus]]''<br />
''[[Proechimys magdalenae]]''<br />
''[[Proechimys mincae]]''<br />
''[[Proechimys oconnelli]]''<br />
''[[Proechimys pattoni]]''<br />
''[[Proechimys poliopus]]''<br />
''[[Proechimys quadruplicatus]]''<br />
''[[Proechimys roberti]]''<br />
''[[Proechimys semispinosus]]''<br />
''[[Proechimys simonsi]]''<br />
''[[Proechimys steerei]]''<br />
''[[Proechimys trinitatis]]''<br />
''[[Proechimys urichi]]''
}}

'''''Proechimys''''' is a [[genus]] of [[South American]] spiny rats of the family [[Echimyidae]].<ref name = MSW3>{{MSW3 Hystricognathi | id = 13400477 | pages = 1584–1588| heading = Genus ''Proechimys''}}</ref> All species of the genus are [[Terrestrial animal|terrestrial]]. In the lowland Neotropical forests, ''Proechimys'' rodents are often the most abundant non-volant mammals.<ref name="Patton2000">{{Cite journal | last1=Patton | first1=James L. | author-link=James L. Patton | last2=Da Silva | first2=Maria Nazareth F. | author-link2=Maria Nazareth F. da Silva | last3=Malcolm | first3=Jay R. | date=2000-01-01 | title=Mammals of the Rio Juruá and the evolutionary and ecological diversification of Amazonia | journal=Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History | volume=244 | pages=1 | doi=10.1206/0003-0090(2000)244<0001:MOTRJA>2.0.CO;2 | issn=0003-0090| url=http://digitallibrary.amnh.org/bitstream/2246/1593/1//v2/dspace/ingest/pdfSource/bul/B244.pdf }}</ref> They are recognizable by reason of their elongated heads and long rostra, large and erect ears, narrow and long hind feet, and tails always shorter than head-and-body lengths. The dorsal pelage comprises a mixture of expanded, varyingly stiffened spines (or [[wikt:aristiform|aristiforms]]) — hence the vernacular name of spiny rats — and soft hairs (or [[wikt:setiform|setiforms]]).<ref name="Patton2000"/>

''Proechimys'' is the most speciose genus of the rodent family Echimyidae, with 25 species recognized, followed by ''[[Phyllomys]]'' with 13 species, and ''[[Trinomys]]'' with 11 species.

==Phylogeny==
===Genus level===
The genus ''Proechimys'' is the sister group to the genus ''Hoplomys'' (the armored rat). In turn, these two taxa share evolutionary affinities with other [[Myocastorini]] genera: ''Callistomys'' (the painted tree-rat) and ''Myocastor'' (the coypu or nutria) on the one hand, and ''Thrichomys'' on the other hand.

{{cladogram
   |title=Genus-level cladogram of the Myocastorini.
   |caption=The cladogram has been reconstructed from mitochondrial and nuclear DNA characters.<ref name="Galewski2005">{{Cite journal|last1=Galewski|first1=Thomas|last2=Mauffrey|first2=Jean-François|last3=Leite|first3=Yuri L. R.|last4=Patton|first4=James L.|last5=Douzery|first5=Emmanuel J. P.|year=2005|title=Ecomorphological diversification among South American spiny rats (Rodentia; Echimyidae): a phylogenetic and chronological approach|journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution|volume=34|issue=3|pages=601–615|doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2004.11.015|pmid=15683932|bibcode=2005MolPE..34..601G }}</ref><ref name="Upham2012">{{Cite journal|last1=Upham|first1=Nathan S.|last2=Patterson|first2=Bruce D.|year=2012|title=Diversification and biogeography of the Neotropical caviomorph lineage Octodontoidea (Rodentia: Hystricognathi)|journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution|volume=63|issue=2|pages=417–429|doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2012.01.020|pmid=22327013|bibcode=2012MolPE..63..417U }}</ref><ref name="Fabre2013">{{Cite journal|last1=Fabre|first1=Pierre-Henri|last2=Galewski|first2=Thomas|last3=Tilak|first3=Marie-ka|last4=Douzery|first4=Emmanuel J. P.|date=2013-03-01|title=Diversification of South American spiny rats (Echimyidae): a multigene phylogenetic approach|journal=Zoologica Scripta|language=en|volume=42|issue=2|pages=117–134|doi=10.1111/j.1463-6409.2012.00572.x|issn=1463-6409}}</ref><ref name="Loss2014">{{Cite journal|last1=Loss|first1=Ana|last2=Moura|first2=Raquel T.|last3=Leite|first3=Yuri L. R.|date=2014|title=Unexpected phylogenetic relationships of the painted tree rat ''Callistomys pictus'' (Rodentia: Echimyidae)|url=http://www.naturezaonline.com.br/natureza/conteudo/pdf/05_LossACetal_132-136.pdf|journal=Natureza on Line|volume=12|pages=132–136|archive-date=2021-06-23|access-date=2017-10-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210623231029/http://www.naturezaonline.com.br/natureza/conteudo/pdf/05_LossACetal_132-136.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Fabre2014">{{Cite journal|last1=Fabre|first1=Pierre-Henri|last2=Vilstrup|first2=Julia T.|last3=Raghavan|first3=Maanasa|last4=Der Sarkissian|first4=Clio|last5=Willerslev|first5=Eske|last6=Douzery|first6=Emmanuel J. P.|last7=Orlando|first7=Ludovic|date=2014-07-01|title=Rodents of the Caribbean: origin and diversification of hutias unravelled by next-generation museomics|journal=Biology Letters|language=en|volume=10|issue=7|pages=20140266|doi=10.1098/rsbl.2014.0266|pmid=25115033|issn=1744-9561|pmc=4126619}}</ref><ref name="Upham2015">{{Cite book|title=Biology of caviomorph rodents: diversity and evolution|last1=Upham|first1=Nathan S.|last2=Patterson|first2=Bruce D.|publisher=SAREM Series A, Mammalogical Research — Sociedad Argentina para el Estudio de los Mamíferos|year=2015|editor-last1=Vassallo|editor-first1=Aldo Ivan|location=Buenos Aires|pages=63–120|chapter=Evolution of Caviomorph rodents: a complete phylogeny and timetree for living genera|editor-last2=Antenucci|editor-first2=Daniel}}</ref><ref name="Fabre2017">{{Cite journal|last1=Fabre|first1=Pierre-Henri|last2=Upham|first2=Nathan S.|last3=Emmons|first3=Louise H.|last4=Justy|first4=Fabienne|last5=Leite|first5=Yuri L. R.|last6=Loss|first6=Ana Carolina|last7=Orlando|first7=Ludovic|last8=Tilak|first8=Marie-Ka|last9=Patterson|first9=Bruce D.|last10=Douzery|first10=Emmanuel J. P.|date=2017-03-01|title=Mitogenomic Phylogeny, Diversification, and Biogeography of South American Spiny Rats|journal=Molecular Biology and Evolution|volume=34|issue=3|pages=613–633|doi=10.1093/molbev/msw261|pmid=28025278|issn=0737-4038|doi-access=free}}</ref>
   |align=center
   |clades={{Cladogram of Myocastorini genera}}
}}

===Species level===
Reconstructing the systematics and phylogeny of ''Proechimys'' species have been greatly hampered by extreme levels of within- and among-population character variability.<ref name="Patton2000"/> This difficulty has been emphasized by Pine ''et al.'':
{{Blockquote | text = Among the rodents, ''Proechimys'' remains what may be the most problematical genus taxonomically in all mammaldom.<ref name="Pine1981">{{Cite book|title=Aquatic biota of tropical South America: being a compilation of taxonomic bibliographies for the fauna and flora of inland waters of the tropical portion of South America|editor-last=Hurlbert|editor-first=Stuart H.|editor-last2=Rodríguez|editor-first2=Gilberto|editor-last3=dos Santos|editor-first3=Newton Dias|last1=Pine|first1=R. H.|last2=Pine|first2=N. E.|last3=Bruner|first3=S. D.|pages=267–298|chapter=Mammalia|date=1981|publisher=San Diego State University|location=San Diego|language=en|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RYHxAAAAMAAJ}}</ref>}}

To infer the phylogeny of ''Proechimys'' at the species level, morphological characters<ref name="Patton1987">{{Cite journal | last=Patton | first=James L. | author-link=James L. Patton | date=1987 | title=Species groups of spiny rats, genus ''Proechimys'' (Rodentia: Echimyidae) | pages=305–345 | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/part/9267 | journal=Fieldiana: Zoology, Studies in Neotropical Mammalogy: Essays in Honor of Philip Hershkovitz | language=en | volume=39 | issn=0015-0754}}</ref> and mitochondrial DNA sequences<ref name="daSilva1998">{{Cite journal | last=Da Silva | first=Maria Nazareth F. | author-link=Maria Nazareth F. da Silva | date=1998 | title=Four New species of spiny rats of the genus ''Proechimys'' (Rodentia : Echimyidae) from the Western Amazon of Brazil | url=http://biostor.org/reference/81093 | journal=Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington | language=en | volume=111 | pages=436–471 | issn=0006-324X}}</ref> have been used, and allowed to group species into major clades but whose interrelationships remain unresolved.<ref name="Patton2000"/> Six species groups were identified (group ''semispinosus'', group ''longicaudatus'', group ''guyannensis'', group ''trinitatus'', group ''goeldii'', and group ''gardneri''), and 4 species (''[[Proechimys simonsi]]'', ''[[Proechimys echinothrix|P. echinothrix]]'', ''[[Proechimys canicollis|P. canicollis]]'', and ''[[Proechimys decumanus|P. decumanus]]'') remained unaffiliated to any of these groups.<ref name="Patton2015">{{Cite book | last1=Patton | first1=James L. | author-link=James L. Patton | last2=Leite | first2=Rafael N. | chapter=Genus ''Proechimys'' J. A. Allen, 1899 | pages=950–989 | title=Mammals of South America, Volume 2: Rodents | editor-last=Patton | editor-first=James L. | editor-last2=Pardiñas | editor-first2=Ulyses F. J. | editor-last3=D’Elía | editor-first3=Guillermo | date=2015-03-09 | publisher=University of Chicago Press | isbn=9780226169606 | language=en | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mbjnBgAAQBAJ}}</ref>

{{cladogram
   |title=Species-level cladogram of the genus ''Proechimys''.
   |caption=The cladogram has been reconstructed from morphological characters and mitochondrial DNA ([[MT-CYB|cytochrome b]]) sequences.<ref name="Patton1987"/><ref name="daSilva1998"/><ref name="Patton2000"/><ref name="Patton2015"/>
   |align=center
   |clades={{Cladogram of Proechimys species}}
}}
<br />
The different groups of species can be diagnosed as follows.<ref name="Patton2015"/>
* Group ''semispinosus'': it contains two species, ''Proechimys semispinosus'', — with its widespread range, from Central America south from Honduras along the west coast of Colombia and Ecuador — and ''P. oconnelli'', with a more limited range, east of the Cordillera Oriental in the north-western Amazon.
* Group ''longicaudatus'': it contains the three species ''Proechimys longicaudatus'', ''P. brevicauda'', and ''P. cuvieri'', united by lyrate and strongly fanged incisive foramina, and deep groves extending onto the anterior palate. They range from the lowland rainforest of the Guianan region and Amazon basin to dry forests of eastern Bolivia, northern Paraguay, and central Brazil.
* Group ''guyannensis'': it contains the two species ''Proechimys guyannensis'', and ''P. roberti'', showing a plantar surface of hindfeet with six pads, and distributed mostly in the Guianan region, eastern Amazonia, and extending south into central Brazil.
* Group ''trinitatus'': it contains the eight species ''Proechimys trinitatus'', ''P. mincae'', ''P. guairae'', ''P. poliopus'', ''P. magdalenae'', ''P. chrysaeolus'', ''P. urichi'', and ''P. hoplomyoides''. These taxa possess large and open incisive foramina, and simplified cheek teeth.
* Group ''goeldii'': it contains the three species ''Proechimys steerei'', ''P. quadruplicatus'', and ''P. goeldii'', united by a uniformly large body size. Members of this group most commonly inhabit the seasonally inundated [[Várzea forest|várzea]] or [[igapó]] lowland forests of the Amazon basin.
* Group ''gardneri'': it contains the three species ''Proechimys gardneri'', ''P. pattoni'', and ''P. kulinae'', characterized by short head and body length — less than {{convert|185|mm|in}}. They are distributed in western Amazonia, but with non-overlapping ranges as all three species replace one another along the length of the [[Juruá River]] or on its opposite banks.

==Distribution==
''Proechimys'' species presently occur mainly in South America, in all countries except Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile.<ref name="Lord2007">{{Cite book|last=Lord|first=Rexford D.|date=2007-01-30|title=Mammals of South America|pages=173|publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press|location=Baltimore (MD)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iTt13fynOBIC&pg=PA173|isbn=9780801884948|language=en}}</ref> One member of the genus (''[[Proechimys semispinosus|P. semispinosus]]'') also ranges into Central America.

{|class="wikitable sortable" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"
|+ style="text-align: center;" | Geographical distribution of ''Proechimys '' species in Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela, and Central America (+ : presence in the corresponding country ; — : not observed).<ref name="Lord2007"/> <br /> Groups of species are numbered according to the species-level phylogeny.
! style="width: 50px; | Groups
! style="width: 175px;" | Species
! style="width: 25px; | [[Brazil|{{mono|BRA}}]]
! style="width: 25px; | [[Bolivia|{{mono|BOL}}]]
! style="width: 25px; | [[Colombia|{{mono|COL}}]]
! style="width: 25px; | [[Ecuador|{{mono|ECU}}]]
! style="width: 25px; | [[French Guiana|{{mono|GUF}}]]
! style="width: 25px; | [[Guyana|{{mono|GUY}}]]
! style="width: 25px; | [[Paraguay|{{mono|PRY}}]]
! style="width: 25px; | [[Peru|{{mono|PER}}]]
! style="width: 25px; | [[Suriname|{{mono|SUR}}]]
! style="width: 25px; | [[Trinidad and Tobago|{{mono|TTO}}]]
! style="width: 25px; | [[Venezuela|{{mono|VEN}}]]
! style="width: 25px; | [[Central America|{{mono|C.Am}}]]
|-
| 03 || ''[[Proechimys brevicauda]]'' || + || + || + || + || — || — || — || + || — || — || — || — 
|-
| 07 || ''[[Proechimys canicollis]]'' || — || — || + || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || + || — 
|-
| 06 || ''[[Proechimys chrysaeolus]]'' || — || — || + || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — 
|-
| 03 || ''[[Proechimys cuvieri]]'' || + || — || — || — || + || + || — || + || + || — || — || — 
|-
| 08 || ''[[Proechimys decumanus]]'' || — || — || — || + || — || — || — || + || — || — || — || — 
|-
| 05 || ''[[Proechimys echinothrix]]'' || + || — || ? || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — 
|-
| 10 || ''[[Proechimys gardneri]]'' || + || + || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — 
|-
| 09 || ''[[Proechimys goeldii]]'' || + || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — 
|-
| 06 || ''[[Proechimys guairae]]'' || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || + || — 
|-
| 04 || ''[[Proechimys guyannensis]]'' || + || — || — || — || + || + || — || — || + || — || + || — 
|-
| 06 || ''[[Proechimys hoplomyoides]]'' || + || — || — || — || — || + || — || — || — || — || + || — 
|-
| 10 || ''[[Proechimys kulinae]]'' || + || — || — || — || — || — || — || + || — || — || — || — 
|-
| 03 || ''[[Proechimys longicaudatus]]'' || + || + || — || — || — || — || + || — || — || — || — || — 
|-
| 06 || ''[[Proechimys magdalenae]]'' || — || — || + || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — 
|-
| 06 || ''[[Proechimys mincae]]'' || — || — || + || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — 
|-
| 02 || ''[[Proechimys oconnelli]]'' || — || — || + || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — 
|-
| 10 || ''[[Proechimys pattoni]]'' || + || — || — || — || — || — || — || + || — || — || — || — 
|-
| 06 || ''[[Proechimys poliopus]]'' || — || — || + || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || + || — 
|-
| 09 || ''[[Proechimys quadruplicatus]]'' || + || — || + || + || — || — || — || + || — || — || + || — 
|-
| 04 || ''[[Proechimys roberti]]'' || + || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — 
|-
| 02 || ''[[Proechimys semispinosus]]'' || — || — || + || + || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || + 
|-
| 01 || ''[[Proechimys simonsi]]'' || + || + || + || + || — || — || — || + || — || — || — || — 
|-
| 09 || ''[[Proechimys steerei]]'' || + || + || — || — || — || — || — || + || — || — || — || — 
|-
| 06 || ''[[Proechimys trinitatus]]'' || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || + || — || — 
|-
| 06 || ''[[Proechimys urichi]]'' || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || — || + || — 
|}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Echimyidae nav}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q279215}}
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[[Category:Proechimys| ]]
[[Category:Myocastorini]]
[[Category:Rodent genera]]
[[Category:Taxa named by Joel Asaph Allen]]