16 4 NOTES ON GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION Check List 16 (4): 927–932 https://doi.org/10.15560/16.4.927 Filling distribution gaps: new records of the Brazilian Porcupine, Coendou prehensilis (Linnaeus, 1758) (Mammalia, Rodentia), in 10 departments of Colombia Héctor E. Ramírez-Chaves1, 2, Juan Pablo López-Ordóñez3, Carlos A. Aya-Cuero4, Daniela Velásquez-Guarín1, 2, Alexandra Cardona-Giraldo5, Natalia Atuesta-Dimian6, Darwin M. Morales- Martínez6, Miguel E. Rodríguez-Posada7 1 Grupo de Investigación Genética, Biodiversidad y Manejo de Ecosistemas, Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Caldas, Calle 65 No 26-10, Cod. Postal 170004, Manizales, Caldas, Colombia. 2 Centro de Museos, Museo de Historia Natural, Universidad de Caldas, Calle 65 # 26-10, Manizales, Caldas, Colombia. 3 Conservación Internacional Colombia, Carrera 13 # 71-41, Bogotá, Colombia. 4 Fundación Kurupira, Diagonal 16B No. 106-65, Bogotá D.C., 110921-243, Colombia. 5 Programa Maestría en Tecnologías de la Información Geográfica, Facultad de Ciencias e Ingeniería, Universidad de Manizales, Carrera 9a # 19-03, Manizales, Caldas, Colombia. 6 Instituto Amazónico de Investigaciones Científicas SINCHI, Programa Ecosistemas y Recursos Naturales – Fauna, grupo de investigación Fauna Amazónica Colombiana, Calle 20 # 5-44, Bogotá, Colombia. 7 Fundación Reserva Natural La Palmita, Centro de Investigación, Grupo de investigaciones territoriales para el uso y conservación de la biodiversidad, Bogotá, Colombia. Corresponding author: Héctor E. Ramírez-Chaves, [email protected] Abstract The Brazilian Porcupine, Coendou prehensilis (Linnaeus, 1758), is the most widespread species of Coendou Lacépède, 1799 in South America, but little is known on its natural history, ecology and distribution. In Colombia, it has been reported in the lowlands and inter-Andean valleys of 18 continental departments, but there are still gaps on its distri- bution, natural history and ecology. We present new distribution records and add information of the presence of C. prehensilis in 10 additional departments of Colombia located at the Amazonia, Orinoco, Peri-Caribbean Arid Belt, and North Andean Biogeographic provinces. We suggest that C. prehensilis is the most widespread species in the lowlands of Colombia, although it does not occur in the Biogeographic Chocó and in the inter-Andean medium and high valleys of the Cauca and Magdalena rivers. Keywords Amazonia, Andes, Caribbean, Erethizontidae, photographs, quills. Academic editor: Guilherme Garbino | Received 8 June 2020 | Accepted 21 July 2020 | Published 28 July 2020 Citation: Ramírez-Chaves HE, López-Ordóñez JP, Aya-Cuero CA, Velásquez-Guarín D, Cardona-Giraldo A, Atuesta-Dimian N, Morales-Martínez DM, Rodríguez-Posada ME (2020) Filling distribution gaps: new records of the Brazilian Porcupine, Coendou prehensilis (Linnaeus, 1758) (Mammalia, Rodentia), in 10 departments of Colombia. Check List 16 (4): 927–932. https://doi.org/10.15560/16.4.927 Introduction The genus Coendou Lacépède, 1799 (Rodentia, Ere- richness of the genus is represented in Brazil, Colom- thizontidae) comprises 14 or 15 species of Neotropical bia, and Ecuador (Voss 2015; Ramírez-Chaves et al. porcupines (Voss 2015; Barthelmess 2016). Most of the 2016; Menezes et al. 2020). In Colombia, six species © The authors. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. 928 Check List 16 (4) of porcupines have been recorded (Ramírez-Chaves 153 m a.s.l.; Rodríguez-Bolaños et al. 2015), not included et al. 2016). Knowledge of the distribution and biol- in previous distribution updates. ogy of Coen dou in Colombia has increased in the last decade (Voss 2011, 2015; Racero-Casarrubia et al. 2016; Results Ramírez-Chaves et al. 2016, 2019; Leon-Alvarado and Ramírez-Chaves 2017; Gonzalez-Astudillo et al. 2018; We present new records of Coendou prehensilis in 10 Torres-Martínez et al. 2019). However, there are still sev- departments of Colombia. The records are based on eral gaps in the distribution for most Coen dou species in quills (three records), roadkills (two records), and pho- the country due to the few specimens in natural history tographs of hunted or live specimens (15 records) (Fig. collections, which limit our knowledge on the distribu- 1). We also include three localities based on photographs tion patterns of the species of the genus (Alberico et al. of live specimens. In total, we add 20 new localities 1999; Ramírez-Chaves et al. 2016). to the distribution of C. prehensilis in Colombia. The The Brazilian Porcupine, Coendou prehensilis (Lin- records come from an elevational range between 100 and naeus, 1758), is potentially the most widely distributed 1,730 m. porcupine in the lowlands of Colombia, with records in 17 continental departments and expected presence in the Coendou prehensilis (Linnaeus, 1758) departments of Arauca, Cauca, Nariño, Guainía, Huila, Figure 1 Santander, and Vaupés (Torres-Martínez et al. 2019). New records. COLOMBIA • 1 juvenile female; Depart- The records come mainly from the Amazonia, Orinoco, ment of Arauca, Municipality of Arauquita, “Vereda” Peri-Caribbean Arid Belt, Guyana, and North Andean La Osa, Caño Limón Oil Field, firefighter school “Los Biogeographic provinces (Ramírez-Chaves et al. 2016; Gavanes”; 06°56′1.77″N, 071°10′16.11″W; 149 m a.s.l.; Racero-Casarrubia et al. 2016; Torres-Martínez et al. 11 April 2008; Miguel E. Rodríguez-Posada leg; it was 2019). Despite its wide distribution, C. prehensilis has found sleeping in a tree next to the house; ICN 21902 scarcely been studied, and there are several gaps in this (Fig. 1A, B). • Quills; Department of Arauca, Munici- species’ distribution, ecology, and natural history. pality of Arauca, “Vereda” Las Plumas, Los Cuna- To assist in filling these gaps, we provide an updated guaros; 06°36′15″N, 070°29′52″W; 112 m a.s.l; 30 compilation of the distributional records of C. prehensi- November 2018; Daniela Velásquez-Guarín leg; found lis and present an updated map of the species in Colom- in gallery forest near a cubarro palm (Bactris major bia based on new records and a review of the literature. Jacq.); MHN-UCa 2079 (Fig. 1C). • Quills; Department of Arauca, Municipality of Arauca, “Vereda” Las Plu- Methods mas, “Finca” Las Piñas; 06°35′16.7″N, 070°30′9.80″W; The new records of the Brazilian Porcupine are based 110 m a.s.l.; 30 November 2018; Daniela Velásquez- on photographs of live specimens and also of road-killed Guarín leg; found in the base of the moriche palm trunk and hunted animals, quills found in the field, and speci- (Mauritia flexuosa L.f.); MHN-UCa 2080 • 1 adult; mens housed in natural history collections. The collec- Department of Caquetá, Municipality of San Vicente tions visited and their acronyms are: Museo de Historia del Caguán, “Vereda” Los Andes, Pato River middle Natural, Universidad de Caldas (MHN-UCa), Maniza- basin; 02°34′9.037″N, 074°43′19.356″W; 720 m a.s.l; 16 les, Colombia; the Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, Uni- May 2018; photographed by Carlos Aya-Cuero in a sec- versidad Nacional de Colombia (ICN), Bogotá; and The ondary forest (Fig. 1D). • 1 adult; Department of Casa- Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH), Chicago, nare, Municipality of Aguazul, “Vereda” La Graciela, United States. “finca” Las Delicias; 04°41′13.204″N, 072°24′48.481″W; We also reviewed voucher specimens from the 192 m a.s.l.; 11 October 2013; photographed by Darwin departments of Caldas and Santander in the inter- Morales-Martínez at 20:00 h inside a riparious forest Andean valley of the Middle Magdalena river basin of (Fig. 1E). • 1 adult; Department of Casanare, Municipal- Colombia, where the species has been recorded (Vil- ity of Paz de Ariporo, “Vereda” Bebedero, “finca” Las lanueva 2006; Castaño Salazar 2012) and that were not Malvinas; 05°49′53.1″N, 071°51′48.1″W; 236 m a.s.l.; 5 included by Torres-Martínez et al. (2019) in the most January 2011; photographed by Miguel E. Rodríguez recent publication on the distribution of C. prehensi- Posada at 20:00 h in a mango tree (Mangifera indica L.) lis in Colombia. Similarly, we reviewed photographic (Fig. 1F).• 1 adult; Department of Casanare, Municipal- records from specific localities in the Department of ity of Trinidad, “Vereda” La Cañada, La Palmita Nat- Boyacá, Municipality of Zetaquira (05°15’55.23″N, ural Reserve; 05°25′12.33″N, 071°36′2.57″W; 160 m 073°10’08″W; 1,667 m a.s.l; CORPOBOYACÁ 2018); a.s.l.; repeatedly observed next to the house on mango Department of Meta, Acacías “Bosque Los Guayupes” trees. • 1 adult; Department of Cauca, Municipality of (04°07′59.7″N, 073°51′09″W; 1,730 m a.s.l); Vereda Por- Piamonte, “Vereda” El Convenio; 01°01′26.9″N, 076°19′ tachuelo (04°08′24.468″N, 073°48′34.775″W; 1,313 m 59.2″W; 300 m a.s.l.; 24 April 2020; photographed by a.s.l.; Rodríguez-Bolaños et al. 2014); and Puerto Gai- José Paz at 21:40 h (Fig. 1G, H); the porcupine was not tán, Tillavá river basin (04°00′34.499″N, 071°16′32.998; afraid of people in the camp and came closer to lick salt Ramírez-Chaves et al. | Coendou prehensilis in Colombia: distribution update 929 Figure 1. New records of the Brazilian Porcupine, Coendou prehensilis, from Colombia. A–B. Individual from the Department of Arauca. C. Tricolored quills from the Department of Arauca. D. Adult specimen from Department of Caquetá. E, F. Adult individuals from the Department of Casanare. G. Inflated external nostrils and tricolored quills of a specimen from the Department of Cauca.H.